6 Ideas For Effective Dental Patient Brochures

Sharing your knowledge to educate your patients about the importance of oral health care will help you build trust throughout your community.

Distributing dental patient brochures (aka dental newsletters) to your patients-of-record and throughout your community serves three important purposes: they help patients get to know and like your team, they help educate consumers on the importance of oral hygiene, and they can help you build trust and grow your practice revenues.

Let’s face it: for one reason or other, half of the adult population avoids visiting a dentist unless they have an urgent need. According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17.5% of children and youth aged 5 to 19, and 27.4% of adults aged 20 to 44 live with untreated tooth decay.

The threats posed to the overall health of consumers due to a lack of regular and proper oral hygiene are well-known among the dental and medical communities, but sadly, they are not recognized by the general public.

There are countless worthwhile topics on dentistry and dental care that your patient newsletters and brochures can cover. If you’re wondering what topics are most effective for your dental practice’s informational brochures, consider one of these six:

• Overall oral health. It’s vital to know who your target audience is. When it comes to making dental-related family decisions, it’s not fathers who typically decide why, when, and where their families visit a dentist. Extoling the benefits of oral hygiene and regular checkups for all ages will encourage your existing and potential patients (including moms who may neglect their own dental care) make informed and quicker decisions for their entire families.
• The importance of preventative care. Outside of the cosmetic benefits of having clean teeth and an attractive smile, patients need to understand that gum disease is a serious condition that is detrimental to their health, and if left untreated, can have a significant impact on their pocketbooks. Teeth and gums that are regularly checked by a professional will be more resilient to tooth decay, and they may also make cosmetic treatment an easier option. Malocclusion leads to more grave oral health problems.
• Post-oral surgery care. Oral and maxillofacial surgeries require post-treatment care to help patients recover fully and completely. Detail what anyone should and shouldn’t do following either minor or major oral surgery, why it’s important, and what they should do if problems persist after an acceptable period of recovery time.
• How to detect and prevent oral cancers. According to the non-profit Oral Cancer Foundation, it’s estimated about 50,000 Americans will be diagnosed with some oral or pharyngeal cancer annually. Moreover, the death rates associated with oral, head, and neck cancers are reportedly high largely because they’re not discovered early. Help your patients help themselves by explaining to them what oral cancers are, and how they are detected and prevented.
• How convenient you make dentistry. Today’s consumer wants convenience. They want appointment times outside of business hours, they want faster and more reliable service. Emphasize these attributes about your practice and increase response to your dental practice brochures (again, aka newsletters).
• A proven business generator. It’s important to note that dental marketing newsletters are proven to generate 70% higher response by prospective patients versus dental postcards and static practice informational brochures. Customized newsletters are your best bet to building awareness, increasing practice likeability, and building trust resulting in greater engagement with your practice from the community surrounding.

Need professional and experienced assistance marketing your dental practice? We can help. For more than 24+ years Patient NEWS has worked exclusively with more than 7,000 dentists across the U.S. and Canada. Call us now at 1-888-377-2404 or request a callback.