Ethics — Is It Ethical To Ask for Reviews?

Paul Hsiao, DDS, MPH, JD

Staff get reviews. Online software and apps ask for reviews. Companies give discounts for reviews. Ultimately, what is ethical and how should these reviews be garnered without unbiased influences? It’s interesting that a dental office in one community may have hundreds to thousands of reviews and a similar office nearby has one or zero reviews. How is this possible? Either someone is doing everything right or another person is doing everything wrong.

As society becomes more and more review-based, it becomes harder to stand out from the crowd if you do not have a certain amount of online presence. Online presence could include your website, reviews on different platforms, videos of you, your Facebook or LinkedIn pages and whatever else the web has collected over time. When would it be appropriate to ask a patient for an online review? Do we ask patients to write the review when they’re in the waiting room, when they’re waiting for treatment during downtime in the chair or after their dental procedure? If you did something amazing and the patient voluntarily writes a review, just say thank you. When you do something awesome, ask for an awesome review. Your patients who love you and your staff will always be the foundation of your practice, so why not leverage your relationship and great experiences? Patients may be too shy to tell the world you’re amazing, preferring to keep you for themselves. But loyal patients will want you to succeed and might just make the effort if you bring it up. The CDA Code of Ethics says that advertising should not be false or misleading (6A). Because online reviews are a form of advertising, they should be honest reviews by actual patients. Also, you want to avoid giving anything of value in exchange for the review, such as a gift card or free service, because doing so without conspicuous disclosure can be considered false and deceptive advertising by the Federal Trade Commission.

Remember this saying: “If you ask, you shall receive; however, be careful what you wish for.” If you do get a negative review, don’t panic. A small number of negative reviews are expected for most businesses and provide credibility to the positive reviews. It is recommended that you contact the patient offline, separate from the review platform, to avoid a violation of HIPAA. For more information, see the Practice Support resource at cda.org/onlinereview-generation-best-practices.

In this world of instant gratification, I would suggest asking for a positive review; as solo practitioners or even small group practices, many of us benefit greatly from reviews. Not everyone can afford automated platforms to generate reviews, so why not use our words and politely ask patients to say something nice about their experiences? Plus, with so many years of good will, patients would gladly spend a few minutes writing about their dentist’s awesomeness.

The purpose of the CDA Code of Ethics is to guide members in service to the public to uphold ethical conduct between dental providers and ethical promotion of dental practices and services. Being a dentist is a privilege, and we have a responsibility to society and to fellow dentists to conduct activities in an ethical manner. Therefore, if we are good at what we do, why not ask our patients to directly review us rather than use computer software to generate their responses. n

Paul Hsiao, DDS, MPH, JD, is a general dentist practicing in Fresno, Calif. He is a fellow of the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists. Dr. Hsiao served on the CDA Judicial Council.