In our last post we mentioned patient word of mouth is often the most popular way to find a new trustworthy and qualified dentist for our families. And lots of times we notice a friend or family member’s elective dental services, such as veneers or teeth whitening, and ask who made them look so good. With virtually everyone we know logging into Facebook multiple times a day; we figured this word of mouth thing might be going digital. From localized Yelpers to Foursquare fanatics, existing dental patient word of mouth has gone viral.

We just want to know HOW viral?

When it comes to making dental health care decisions for your family, or choosing a reputable and qualified dentist for cosmetic dentistry or other elective services, we’re pretty sure the Internet comes in handy. Again, no scientific data to back this claim up or bore you with – we just want to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

The days of thumbing through the phone book have been replaced by a quick keyword search of dental services, our location, and perhaps even the individual dentists’ name or practice name. With all of this information at our fingertips we can now see where the dentist went to school, how long they’ve been in practice at the specific location, and even what actual patients have to say about their dental experience.

We’re not saying this new digital word of mouth is the only source of qualified dental information, but it sure seems to be a good indicator of how effective the dental practice is at gaining some online practice visibility. We’ll go out on a limb and say that those dentists that represent themselves best online will be quite popular within their local community. If we add actual patient experience to the mix we’re pretty much covering all bases in our quest for a good dentist. We can see, hear, and even feel what it’s like to be a patient in the chair.

A good dental website offers all of this info and more, but where else do you search?

With that in mind, we’d like to ask for your input on what is your most trusted online source when searching for a good dentist. Choose your #1 online source for seeking out local dentist info, and please share your thoughts and comments.

Since we’re all getting more comfortable letting the world know our innermost thoughts on local restaurants, home electronics, or any other local product or service, we figure our dentists could use a little dWOM (digital word of mouth). If you ‘Like’ your dentist, let the world – or at least your local community – know just how much!

And be sure to let your dentist know too, we’re sure they’d appreciate the sentiments.