Don’t just fit your patient into an appointment; adjust the appointment for your patient. This sentiment is relevant not just for the clinical aspects of an appointment but also the administration side. Most dental offices have a patient base that varies demographically, and often the different generations have different preferences.
When we asked patients how they would begin their process if searching for a new dentist, 80% of survey respondents aged 50+ said they would ask a family or friend for a referral. Word-of-mouth recommendations still hold the most value for this group of patients. However, for patients under 30 years old, undertaking a Google search was the most popular response.
Taking into consideration which marketing tactic is most effective for each patient is also important. While email, social media, and direct mail all sat around 20% in terms of preference in our survey, looking closer at the age breakdown of respondents is revealing. Nearly 40% of patients aged under 30 would prefer to see the marketing tactics of email and social media, while only 11% of these patients would prefer direct mail. Therefore, most of the votes for direct mail came from patients 50 years old or older. Consider who your ideal patient is when deciding which marketing tactics your practice is investing in.
As seen in the print issue of Oral Health July 2025
In 2024 Bramm Research, a third-party independent research house, conducted a confidential online survey of general population Canadians who have visited a dentist within the past two years. The survey was limited to those 25 years or older, and nine age brackets were filled proportionally to the Canadian general population. Provincial proportions were also filled to proportionally represent English speakers in Canada of age 25 or higher. The target sample for gender was 50% female and 50% male. The survey launched on Friday, September 20th and closed on Thursday, October 3rd for a total of 14 days in field, and the number of completed responses was 1,000, the same as in 2019. With a total sample of 1,000, the margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. If, for example, 50% of the sample indicated that agreed with a statement, then we can be reasonably sure (19 times out of 20) of an accuracy within +/- 3.1%. This means that a total census would reveal an answer of not less than 46.9% and not more than 53.1%.
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