Orthodontic marketing that fills your exam schedule

Orthodontic marketing is everything that brings a family or adult to your exam chair and helps them say yes to treatment. That includes your website, Google Business Profile, search rankings, AI search visibility, ads, referrals from general dentists, patient referrals and how your team handles the first call. When those pieces work together, starts go up and cost per start goes down.

Most practices buy these pieces from different vendors and nobody owns the result. We run them as one plan, built around how parents and adults actually choose an orthodontist today.

Orthodontics is not general dentistry. The buying decision is different, the timeline is longer and the patient is often not the person paying. Marketing that ignores that wastes money.

• Parents decide for kids, often after comparing two or three offices.
• Adults research aligners for weeks before they call.
• General dentists still send a large share of new patients, and they need a reason to keep sending them.
• Observation and growth patients may wait a year or more before they start.
• The first phone call and the exam visit decide most starts.

Every plan we build covers the whole path, from first search to start, not just the click.

These are the ideas we see move the needle most often for orthodontic practices. None of them work alone, and all of them work better when your team follows up fast.

1. Make your Google Business Profile the best in town

Complete every field, choose Orthodontist as your primary category, list each treatment as a service, add fresh photos monthly and post updates a few times a month.

2. Ask for reviews every week

Ask every patient at natural moments like bonding day and debond day. Make it easy with a short link or QR code. Never offer anything in exchange.

3. Rewrite your website for skimmers

Lead every section with a headline that makes sense on its own. Put the phone number and booking button where a thumb can reach them.

4. Answer the questions parents ask

What age should my child see an orthodontist? Braces or aligners? How long does it take? Answer each one on your site in the first two sentences of a section. This is what Google and AI tools quote.

5. Build an observation or growth club

Kids who are not ready for treatment yet should stay connected to your practice, with regular check-ins, so they start with you when the time is right.

6. Make referring effortless for general dentists

Give each referring office NFC cards, QR codes or a digital referral form, a direct line for their team, and updates on every patient they send.

7. Run Google Ads for high-intent searches

Target people already searching for braces, Invisalign and an orthodontist near them, and send them to a page built to book an exam.

8. Use Meta ads to reach parents

Lead ads aimed at parents of kids in the right age range can fill the exam schedule, as long as your team calls every lead quickly.

9. Train the first phone call

The person who answers the phone decides more starts than any ad. Script the greeting, the questions and how to book, and practice it.

10. Follow up on pending patients

Many families say yes weeks after the exam. A simple follow-up sequence by phone, text and email brings many of them back.

11. Show up in AI search

Keep your practice details identical everywhere, collect detailed reviews and earn mentions on trusted sites, so ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews name your practice.

12. Be part of your community

School sponsorships, sports teams and patient events keep your name in front of families and give your social media real stories to share.

PracticeMarketer was founded in 1995 by Beth Leach. Beth built the professional Invisalign marketing materials for Align Technology and the systems that helped doctors sell it, and later helped create the Damon brand for Ormco. She and her team have since worked with more than 2,000 dental and orthodontic practices.

Beth speaks regularly at AAO, WOCON, PCSO and CAO meetings on practice marketing and AI search. When you work with us, you work with people who have been inside orthodontic marketing for three decades, not a general agency learning on your budget.

What does an orthodontic marketing agency do?

An orthodontic marketing agency plans and runs the channels that bring new patients to an orthodontic practice. That usually includes the website, local SEO, Google Business Profile, AI search visibility, Google and Meta ads, referral marketing and team training on phone calls and follow-up.

How much should an orthodontist spend on marketing?

It depends on your goals, market and how many new patients you need. Many practices start with their existing budget and move money from channels that do not produce starts into ones that do. We recommend tracking cost per start rather than cost per click, so every dollar ties back to treatment.

What is the best marketing for orthodontists?

The best results usually come from a strong website, a well-managed Google Business Profile with steady reviews, local SEO, targeted Google Ads, and a referral program with general dentists. The first phone call matters just as much, so team training is part of every plan we build.

How do orthodontists get more new patients?

Make it easy to find you, easy to trust you and easy to book. That means ranking in the map pack, appearing in AI answers, collecting detailed reviews, answering calls quickly, following up on every lead and keeping general dentists informed about the patients they send.

Do you work with orthodontists outside California?

Yes. We work with orthodontic and dental practices across the United States. Our team is based in Redlands, California, and most of our work is done remotely with regular strategy calls.

Can you track marketing to treatment starts without breaking HIPAA?

Yes. We set up call tracking and conversion tracking that keeps protected health information out of ad platforms and analytics tools, and we do not use the browser Meta pixel on practice websites.