Dental and orthodontics
Dental marketing measured in kept visits and case starts
A cleaning, an implant case and a set of braces come from different searches, at very different values. We plan your Google listing, search ads, Local Services Ads, social ads and recall email around the chairs you need to fill and the treatments you want more of, and we count patients who show up and cases that start.
- 22,200searches a month for "dentist near me" in the Charlotte area
- $12 to $72estimated click cost for "dental implants charlotte"
- 1,600searches for "braces near me" in the Charlotte area in September 2026, up from 320 a month in the summer
- 8kinds of dental and orthodontic practices we plan for
The short answer
What should dental marketing focus on?
Dental marketing should focus on two things at once: a steady flow of new patients for the hygiene schedule, and consultations for the high-value treatments the practice wants to grow, such as implants, clear aligners and orthodontics.
Most new patients pick a dentist from the map, by distance, insurance and reviews. Implant and orthodontic patients research for weeks, compare prices and want to see results before they book a consult. Unlike dental marketing firms that report clicks alone, a full plan from a dental SEO company covers both: the Google listing and reviews for everyday care, dental ads for the treatments with the most value, dental SEO for the questions patients ask, and tracking that follows each lead to a kept appointment or a case start.
What dental and orthodontic practices need from marketing.
A family practice, an implant-focused office and an orthodontist all want new patients, but they win them in different ways. Six needs come up in almost every dental account we look at.
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New patients for open hygiene time
Hygiene chairs are the base of the practice. New patient flow should match the openings in the schedule, by location and by day.
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High-value cases, promoted on purpose
Implants, aligners and cosmetic work carry most of the production. They need their own searches, pages and consult path, not a line on the services list.
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The map, reviews and insurance
Patients compare distance, stars and whether a practice takes their plan. Strong dentist local SEO and a complete listing with insurance notes, hours and recent reviews win everyday visits.
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Calls answered and followed up
Most dental leads still call. A missed call at lunch, or a form nobody returns, sends the patient to the next practice on the map.
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Dentist referrals for orthodontists
Orthodontists live on referrals from general dentists. Marketing adds the parents and adults who search directly, without competing with referring offices.
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Recalls and unscheduled treatment
Overdue recalls and accepted but unscheduled treatment are often the cheapest revenue a practice has. Reminders fill those chairs at no click cost.
What dental patients search, in Charlotte and across the US.
Monthly searches and estimated click costs for common dental and orthodontic searches. Everyday care is a "near me" search; implants and aligners bring price research and much higher click costs.
| Search | US / mo | Est. click cost, Charlotte |
|---|---|---|
| dentist near me | 1,830,000 | $5.31 to $26.30 |
| dentist charlotte | 8,100 | $2.39 to $11.13 |
| invisalign | 368,000 | $2.21 to $12.50 |
| orthodontist near me | 246,000 | $5.97 to $37.91 |
| pediatric dentist near me | 201,000 | $3.94 to $20.00 |
| family dentist | 90,500 | $2.81 to $14.10 |
| dental implants | 165,000 | $7.40 to $27.26 |
| dental implant cost | 135,000 | $2.73 to $20.52 |
| dental implants charlotte | 880 | $12.39 to $71.98 |
| braces near me | 40,500 | $2.61 to $27.05 |
- Implant clicks cost the most
- "dental implants charlotte" runs about $12 to $72 a click, several times a search for a dentist. One implant case is worth many cleanings, so the price follows the value.
- Braces follow the school year
- "braces near me" in the Charlotte area peaked at 1,600 searches in September 2026, against 320 a month from April to July. Orthodontic budgets should rise before school starts, not after.
- Patients research the price first
- "dental implant cost" draws about as many Charlotte searches as "dental implants" itself, and "invisalign cost" about 880 a month. Pages that explain cost and financing catch these patients before they choose a practice.
Source: OVERTOP Search Intelligence, 12-month averages for the United States and the Charlotte, NC media market, pulled October 2026. Estimated click cost is the typical range advertisers pay for a top-of-page click.
Our approach: it depends, and the data decides.
A one-doctor family practice, a multi-location group and an orthodontic office need different plans. Four things set the starting point.
- Your goals More new patients, more implant cases, more aligner starts or a new location. Each starts with different searches and pages.
- Your chair capacity Open hygiene time and doctor time decide what to promote and when to pull back, provider by provider.
- Your budget Everyday dental searches cost a few dollars a click; implant searches can pass $70. Spend follows what each case is worth.
- Your competition Group practices, discount chains and aligner brands share the same results. The plan depends on who is bidding in your area.
Data sets the starting mix, ties each appointment and case start to its source, and tells us when to move budget between new patients and high-value treatments.
General or family practice
Steady new patients and fuller hygiene days
Google listing, reviews and insurance details first, then search ads and Local Services Ads around open chair time.
Implant or cosmetic focus
More consults for high-value treatment
Treatment pages with cost and financing answers, search ads on implant and aligner searches, and consult follow-up that runs for weeks.
Orthodontist
More consults and case starts
Parents and adults reached separately, budget timed to the school year, referring dentists kept close, and consults tracked to case starts.
If a Charlotte dental practice came to us, here is how we would start.
This is the plan we would pitch to a real client, built for a fictional Charlotte general dental practice with an in-house orthodontist, using real search data. The practice, its phone number and its website are invented. Sample data shows the kind of results a campaign like this tracks; it is not a client result and not a promise.
Larkmoor Dental and Orthodontics
- Family and general dentistry
- Dental implants
- Braces and clear aligners
How our specialists segment search demand by buyer intent
The account keeps everyday new patients apart from the high-value treatments, so each has its own budget, ads and landing page. Implant and orthodontic searches get the consult path; new patient searches get the booking path.
New patients nearby
People choosing a dentist for checkups and cleanings. The map and the ad compete for the same moment, and insurance often decides.
| Search | Charlotte area / mo | Est. click cost |
|---|---|---|
| dentist near me | 22,200 | $5.31 to $26.30 |
| dentist charlotte | 6,600 | $2.39 to $11.13 |
| family dentist | 1,900 | $2.81 to $14.10 |
| dental office near me | 1,900 | $5.80 to $24.81 |
Dental implants
The highest-value searches in the account. Patients compare cost and financing, so the ad leads to a consult page, not the homepage.
| Search | Charlotte area / mo | Est. click cost |
|---|---|---|
| dental implants | 1,600 | $7.40 to $27.26 |
| dental implants near me | 880 | $12.07 to $55.64 |
| dental implants charlotte | 720 | $12.39 to $71.98 |
| all on 4 dental implants | 210 | $5.44 to $25.00 |
Braces and aligners
Parents searching for a teen and adults searching for themselves. Budget rises in late summer, when braces searches peak.
| Search | Charlotte area / mo | Est. click cost |
|---|---|---|
| invisalign | 3,600 | $2.21 to $12.50 |
| invisalign near me | 590 | $5.89 to $50.90 |
| braces near me | 590 | $2.61 to $27.05 |
| braces for adults | 210 | $3.72 to $19.35 |
How our negative keyword governance protects the budget
- jobs
- salary
- assistant
- hygienist school
- dental school
- free
- cleaning crystals
- at home
- mail order
- medicaid
- cheap
- diy
Dental terms draw job seekers, students, product shoppers and people looking for mail-order aligners. Blocking them keeps the budget on patients who want an appointment. Insurance terms stay or go depending on the plans the practice takes.
How we write and test the Google search ads
Each intent group gets message-matched ad copy engineered by our specialists to qualify buyers before the click and lift expected click-through rate.
www.larkmoordental.com/dentist/charlotte Charlotte Family Dentist | New Patients Welcome | Most Insurance Accepted Checkups, cleanings and family dentistry close to home. Book your first visit online. Early morning and Saturday times, with insurance details on our site before you book. Book a first visitInsurance we takeMeet our dentistsNew patient forms
www.larkmoordental.com/implants/charlotte Dental Implants Charlotte | Free Implant Consult | Financing Options Single implants to full arch, planned with a 3D scan at your consultation. See what implants cost, how financing works and what a first visit includes. Implant costFinancingBook a consultBefore and after
Local Services Ads and the map
Dentists can run Local Services Ads, which sit above the search ads and charge per lead rather than per click. The practice would complete Google’s checks for its dentists, and once approved its listing shows a Google Verified badge. We would set the services it wants, its hours and the insurance it takes, and dispute leads that were not real patients. Ads, listings and pages stay inside Google's healthcare and medicines policy, and the same reviews feed the Google Business Profile that carries the "near me" map.
The Facebook ad
Social ads reach parents nearby before the school year starts and adults who have thought about aligners for years. Meta does not allow ads that assert or imply something about the viewer’s body or health, so the copy talks about the treatment and the visit, never the viewer’s teeth.
The email
Recalls fill hygiene chairs at no click cost. Reminders go out from the practice system, with nothing in the message beyond the visit itself, and a separate sequence follows up on treatment that was accepted but never scheduled.
Time for your next visit
It has been six months since your last cleaning. Choose a time that works for you online, including early mornings and Saturdays, and we will send a reminder the day before.
Choose a timeThe landing page the ads send people to
Each high-value treatment has its own page with cost answers, real before and after photos from the practice and the consult button above the fold. Implant patients compare several practices, and the one that answers the cost question first gets the call.
Dental implants in Charlotte
A consultation with a 3D scan, a written treatment plan and clear answers about cost and financing.
- A 3D scan and treatment plan at your first visit
- Single implants, bridges and full arch options
- Monthly financing and insurance checked before treatment
- Free consultation
- Financing available
- Evening times
Other channels, only where they fit
YouTubeShort videos from the doctors
What an implant or ortho consult looks like, which lowers the fear that keeps patients from booking.
Referral marketingReferring dentists for the orthodontist
Regular updates to general dentists nearby, with each referral tracked to its case start, so direct ads add patients without crowding out referrals.
What each piece turns into, and how they hand off
- Search finds patients ready to book New patients, implant and aligner consults.
- The map and reviews decide Distance, insurance and stars win the visit.
- Social reaches parents and adults Ortho consults before the school year.
- Recalls keep chairs full Cleanings and unscheduled treatment.
How our team tracks calls, bookings and revenue
- Calls answered and missedCalls from ads, Local Services Ads and the Google listing tracked by source, with missed calls flagged for a call back the same day.
- Booked and kept appointmentsOnline bookings and form requests counted as conversions, then matched against the practice system to see who actually came in, without health details sent to ad platforms.
- Consults to case startsImplant and orthodontic consults followed to accepted treatment and case starts, so budget follows production, not form fills.
- One monthly reportSpend, new patients, consults, case starts and cost per case, by treatment and by location.
Sample monthly report: search ads
$3,000 sample monthly search budget: $1,500 new patients, $1,500 implants and orthodontics
| Metric | Sample | Built from |
|---|---|---|
| New patients: estimated cost per click | $4.60 | Low end of the Charlotte estimated click cost for the four new patient keywords, weighted by searches (OVERTOP Search Intelligence) |
| New patient appointment requests | 35 | 326 clicks times 10.67%, the published conversion rate for dentists and dental services (LocaliQ 2026 search benchmarks) |
| Implant and orthodontic consult requests | 29 | $1,500 at a $5.51 estimated cost per click, the same weighting over the eight implant and orthodontic keywords (272 clicks), times the same 10.67% |
| Cost per request | $46.88 | Budget divided by all 64 requests |
| Kept first visits | 28 | Sample: assumes eight in ten new patient requests keep their first appointment |
| Case starts | 10 | Sample: assumes about one in three consult requests starts treatment |
Sample data: the kind of results a campaign like this tracks, built from Charlotte search data and a published benchmark. Not a client result and not a guarantee.
Our dental marketing services.
Four core services carry most dental marketing plans, with local, email and video channels added where they fit. A single-location practice rarely needs every channel at once.
- Core service Google Ads Dental ads split by new patients and high-value treatment, measured in kept visits and case starts. Learn more ›
- Core service Web development Fast treatment pages with cost answers, insurance details and online booking. Learn more ›
- Core service Social media ads Facebook and Instagram ads for ortho and cosmetic consults, written within health ad rules. Learn more ›
- Core service SEO Dental SEO services for treatment, cost and location pages, capturing every high-intent SEO dentist search. Learn more ›
- Local Services Ads Pay-per-lead ads with the Google Verified badge for dentists. Learn more ›
- Google Business Profile Insurance notes, hours, booking links and reviews that win the map. Learn more ›
- Email and SMS marketing Recalls, unscheduled treatment and consult follow-up. Learn more ›
- Analytics and tracking Calls, appointments and case starts tied to their source. Learn more ›
- YouTube Ads Doctor videos that make the first consult less intimidating. Learn more ›
- Microsoft Ads The same search plan on Bing when it books patients at the right cost. Learn more ›
What has worked for dental and orthodontic businesses.
These are results the email and CRM platforms published for an orthodontic group and a dental software company. They are those companies’ published results, not ours, and each story shows what we would take from it.
Dental marketing in Charlotte, practice by practice.
We are based in Charlotte, one of the most contested dental markets in the region, and plan campaigns around how patients actually travel: from Uptown and SouthPark to Ballantyne, University City, Matthews and the towns around them. Each office gets its own radius, budget and reviews, because a patient rarely drives past three dentists to reach a fourth. We also work with dental and orthodontic practices across the US, with each campaign planned on its own market’s search data.
Six case-production leaks we fix in dental ad accounts.
When we audit general dental, implant and orthodontic accounts, we rebuild these six areas first so marketing fills chairs with kept appointments and high-value treatment plans.
Training bidding on kept appointments and accepted cases, not raw forms
A form submission is not a patient until they sit in the chair. We match inquiries to kept consultations so budgets shift toward the campaigns that fill your schedule.
Isolating implants, aligners, emergencies and hygiene into separate budgets
When cleanings, implants and clear aligners share one campaign, cheap hygiene clicks absorb the budget. We give high-production restorative and ortho cases their own dedicated spend.
Capturing lunch-hour and after-hours patient calls with instant follow-up
Dental patients still call first, and a missed call at 5:15 PM books with the next office on the map. We pair call tracking with instant SMS and online scheduling recovery.
Sending implant and cosmetic searchers to procedure-specific pages
An implant or veneer patient wants doctor credentials, before-and-after proof and financing options immediately. We build dedicated treatment pages that convert hesitant patients into consultations.
Writing healthcare-compliant ad creative that stays approved on Meta and Google
Copy that implies a personal health condition gets rejected or restricted. Our specialists write compliant, high-converting creative focused on clinical expertise and smile outcomes.
Growing direct orthodontic starts without undercutting GP referrals
Orthodontists need both parent searches and general-dentist referrals. We structure messaging and co-branded referral touchpoints so direct campaigns strengthen your referring-doctor network.
Dental practices we plan for.
Each kind of practice has its own searches, case values and referral paths. Pages for the specialties go live one by one.
- General dentistsNew patients, insurance and recalls: this page covers general practices.
- Cosmetic dentistryVeneers, whitening and before and after proof.
- Dental implantsHigh-value cases, financing and consults.
- OrthodontistsParents and adults, consults and case starts.
- Pediatric dentistsParents choosing a practice they trust.
- Oral surgeonsReferrals, wisdom teeth and implant surgery.
- EndodontistsReferring dentists and urgent pain.
- PeriodontistsReferrals, gum care and implant cases.
Our analysis for dental practices
Questions dental practices ask us.
Can dental practices run Google Ads and Meta ads?
Yes, within each platform’s health policies. Dental services can be advertised; ads that assume something about the viewer’s health or body, or promise a result, get rejected. We write dental ads around the treatment and the visit from the start.
Should a dental practice run Local Services Ads?
Often, yes. Dentists are an eligible category, the ads show above search results, charge per lead and carry a Google Verified badge once the practice passes Google’s checks. We run them alongside search and the map, not instead of them.
How fast does dental marketing bring in new patients?
Search ads, Local Services Ads and a stronger Google listing usually bring calls within the first weeks. Dental SEO for treatment and cost pages builds over months and lowers the cost of every patient after that.
What budget should a dental practice start with?
It depends on open chair time, the treatments you want to grow and who bids in your area. Everyday dental searches cost a few dollars a click and implant searches far more, so we size the budget to the cases your doctors can take.
How do you track orthodontic consults and case starts?
Calls and consult requests are tied to their source, then matched with the practice system as counts: who came to the consult and who started treatment. Budget follows case starts, and referrals from dentists are tracked on their own.
Do you only work with practices in Charlotte?
No. We are based in Charlotte and work with dental and orthodontic practices across the US. The method stays the same; the search data and competition change by market.
Get a free audit for your practice.
Tell us your treatments, locations and where you have room in the schedule. We will look at your Google listing, local search demand, ads and follow-up, and show you where the next patients and cases are.