Ask in person, at a good moment, and attach nothing of value to the request. Asking is entirely legitimate. The line gets crossed when you offer something in exchange, when you screen who gets asked based on how happy someone seems, or when anyone connected to the practice writes a review.
Most practices that get into trouble here did not set out to cheat. They bought a review tool that quietly did the cheating for them.
What makes a review request improper?
Three things, and they are worth naming plainly.
Incentives. Gift cards, drawing entries, credit toward a balance, free whitening. Anything of value attached to a review turns a patient’s opinion into a purchase, and the reader cannot know that happened. Advertising, endorsement, and professional conduct rules all touch this area and they are not uniform. Before you adopt any request process, have a healthcare attorney look at it and tell you what is permissible where you practice.
Gating. This is the one that catches good people. A system asks the patient how the visit went, then routes the happy ones toward a public review link and the unhappy ones toward a private feedback form. It feels like good service. It is selective solicitation. Review platforms take a dim view of any process that filters who gets asked, so assume anything that screens for positive sentiment will eventually be treated as a violation.
Authorship. Nobody on your team, and no vendor you hire, should ever write a review. This should not need saying, and yet these services still sell to dental practices.
When is the right moment to ask?
At the end of a visit that went well, from the person who spent the most time with the patient.
The hygienist who just spent most of an hour with someone has more standing to ask than anyone else in the building. A short, human sentence beats a script: tell the patient that if they ever have a minute, a review genuinely helps other people find the practice.
Then remove the friction. A text or email with a direct link, sent the same day, is easy to act on. Sent a week later, it is noise.
Should I ask everyone, or only the patients who seem happy?
Everyone who had a normal, completed visit. That is the whole ethical distinction. You may choose the moment. You may not choose the person based on the answer you expect.
There is a practical argument as well. A profile with nothing but glowing reviews reads as manufactured. A profile with a strong overall picture and a few mixed reviews reads as real, and patients are better at telling the difference than most dentists assume.
What can I safely put in the request itself?
Keep it generic. Do not reference the procedure, the diagnosis, or anything clinical in a text, an email, or a public post. Thanking someone for coming in is fine. Referring to what you treated, in a message that could be read by someone standing next to them, is a problem waiting to happen.
If you ever want to use a patient’s name, image, or story in your marketing, get written authorization first, and have your attorney supply the form. This is a short administrative step that prevents an expensive mistake.
What about the volume problem?
Most practices do not have a strategy problem with reviews. They have a consistency problem. Nobody asks for six weeks, then someone panics after a bad review and asks everyone in two days.
Steady beats heavy. A few new reviews every month does more for how a stranger sees you than a large pile from years ago. Assign it to a named person, put it in the morning huddle, and check monthly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I offer a discount to patients who leave a review?
Do not. Attaching anything of value to a review, positive or not, misleads the person reading it and puts you crosswise with platform rules and advertising standards. If someone on your team or a vendor proposes it, treat that as a signal about their judgment generally.
Is it acceptable to ask only satisfied patients?
No. Filtering who gets asked, including automated systems that route unhappy patients somewhere private, is selective solicitation no matter how it is packaged. Ask every patient who completed a normal visit and let the results be whatever they are. Consistency is the only standard you can defend later.
Can my team leave reviews for our own practice?
No. Reviews from owners, employees, family, and vendors mislead patients regardless of whether anyone catches it. If a team member is genuinely also a patient, the safest answer is still no, because you cannot expect a reader to weigh that context.