Dental Practice Heroes

Bad Reviews, Big Myths: What Really Impacts Your Practice Growth

• Dr. Paul Etchison • Episode 605

Share episode

The sinking feeling of spotting a one-star review for your dental practice is something most of us know all too well. That pit in your stomach, the immediate defensiveness, the late-night rumination—it's a universal experience for dental professionals who pour their hearts into patient care. But what if everything we believe about the impact of negative reviews is wrong?

This eye-opening episode challenges conventional wisdom about online reviews by examining what actually happens when businesses face public backlash. Remember when everyone swore they'd never fly United Airlines again after the Dr. David Dao incident in 2017? The outrage was deafening—yet United's revenue actually increased that year. This surprising case study reveals a fundamental truth about consumer behavior: people care far more about their own experiences than someone else's story. Your patients judge you based on how you treat them, not on a stranger's angry review.

We dive deep into practical strategies for handling negative reviews and preventing them in the first place. Since roughly 90% of dental practice complaints stem from financial misunderstandings, clear communication about costs becomes essential. You'll learn why sometimes the best response to an unhappy patient is simply offering a refund—the sleep you'll gain is worth far more than the money you might lose. We also cover proven de-escalation techniques, how to craft professional responses to negative reviews, and why measuring meaningful practice metrics matters more than obsessing over star ratings. Whether you're currently dealing with review anxiety or want to prepare for the inevitable criticism that comes with business ownership, this episode provides both the perspective and practical tools to transform how you handle patient feedback forever.

Ready to create systems that ensure consistent, exceptional patient experiences? Visit dentalpracticeheroes.com for a free consultation on building a practice that runs smoothly, profitably, and can easily withstand the occasional negative review.

GRAB THE FREE PLAYBOOK HERE - Discover 30 proven strategies top-performing dentists use to increase profits, cut clinical days, and finally enjoy the freedom they originally built their practices for.

https://www.dentalpracticeheroes.com/playbook

Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life

We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams.


Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

Paul Etchison:

Have you ever got that one-star review that just made your stomach drop? The moment that you saw it you looked at the star sitting there and you go down and you check the name to see who it was who would so cruelly and just callously insult you publicly to the world. And sometimes you know that patient and sometimes not, but it kills you just the same. It burns at you, it pops back into your consciousness at the most randomest points in the day and even in the middle of the night, and it angers you because you know how hard you work to do your best every single day for your patients and how much you bend over backwards. And yet some of them just have zero respect for you at all and they think you should be able to do the impossible. And yet some of them just have zero respect for you at all and they think you should be able to do the impossible. And most of them they take zero accountability for the condition of their mouth and for some reason that always ends up being your fault. Does it ever seem like that one upset patient that's ranting online could ruin the reputation that you worked so hard to build? Like this is the beginning of the end for your practice or like all the good you do, just gets overshadowed by that one loud, unreasonable voice. I've been there and the truth is the internet outrage machine is so loud, but it's not nearly as powerful as you think, and this is why People don't care about someone else's story, they only care about their own, and that's exactly what we're talking about today how you can handle those bad reviews in a manner so that they don't eat at you and so they actually become a positive for marketing and getting more patients for your practice, and how you can minimize the chances of one of those ever happening again. Let's get into it Now.

Paul Etchison:

You are listening to the Dental Practice Heroes podcast. I am your host, dr Paul Edgerson. I'm the author of two books on dental practice management, a dental coach and the owner of a five-doctor group practice in the south suburbs of Chicago. On this show, we help you to build a practice that makes more money, gives you more time off and runs without you, so you can spend more time with those that you love doing the things that you love.

Paul Etchison:

Now I want to ask you if you remember something from I don't know eight years ago 2017. Do you remember when the internet swore it was never going to fly United again. Do you remember the story of Dr Dio? Dr David Dio, I believe he was a pulmonologist and here's what happened. He was on the plane on United. He was flying home I don't remember what day of the week it was or whatnot but they had four United employees that needed to get on that plane and fly to where he was flying to. So when they do this, typically they'll ask people to get on that plane and fly to where he was flying to. So when they do this, typically they'll ask people to get off. Hey, does anyone want to get off the plane? We'll give you a voucher. Anyone want to take it? No takers? Okay, we'll get you another voucher.

Paul Etchison:

And this was a flight that was already completely sold, and this is like 20 minutes before they're taking off. So everybody's already on the plane, everybody's sitting there, and they're trying to find four people to get off the flight. And nobody wants to get off the flight. It's late, they just want to go home. So eventually, united has to do what they have to do and they just have to randomly pick four people, and the first three got right off, but that fourth one, dr David Dow. He didn't want to get off because he's a pulmonologist and he was seeing patients in the morning and he said I need to see my patients tomorrow morning. I can't possibly get off this plane. And now at this point some people are trying to volunteer in his place and they said no, you're getting off the plane.

Paul Etchison:

What happened is like the United employee like threw this dude's head into like a seat and ended up like knocking him unconscious and dragging him by his hands like unconscious off the plane so through the aisle. And what looks so horrible about it is this was one of those first times that there was like a really publicly just gross kind of overstep of a company and it was videoed and shared and it went viral and people were pissed. People were like I will never fly United again. What is wrong with them? I can't believe it. This is so horrible. And I'm sure United felt the same. United was like, hey, I'm sure United was feeling the same thing Like oh my gosh, like this is really bad. Call the PR people, we've got to figure out what we do. So here's some things that happened.

Paul Etchison:

Okay, so this went viral and almost everybody knew about it. I mean, everybody saw it. I mean, you just kept seeing it on the internet. It was just like over and over again and it was one of those things. It's just like oh man, it's hard to look at. But they had this flash poll and they were asking people, travelers, would they avoid United? Now that they've seen this, 79% of travelers said they would avoid United if all else was equal. 44% said that they would even pay more $66 on average, more to take a longer route. And another connection just to avoid flying for United Because F them, f that company, they did that thing to that nice doctor and they made it so he couldn't see his patients in the morning. And, oh my gosh, it's the end of United. What is going to happen? So let's talk about what really happened after that. Well, for the two days after the incident went public, the stock went down a little bit, and then you know what happened after that. It kind of just went back to where it was.

Paul Etchison:

And then let's look at the numbers for the quarters for United that year. We're talking about 2017. This was in April. So Q2, the Q2 revenue well, it was up 6.4% from the last year. But you know what that didn't give enough time for them to really get crushed. So let's go to Q3. We're going to see it there. Well, it was about exactly the same year over year there. What about Q4? Well, it was up about 4.3 year over year, and when we look at the full operating year of 2017, the revenue rose from $36.6 billion to $37.7 billion, with a 3.2% increase.

Paul Etchison:

Where did all these new customers come from, since nobody wanted to fly United anymore. And this is the thing is people are pissed. People say they're never going to fly United, but the reality is that people will often say things and not follow through on them. So we saw this little stock blip. It recovered in a few days, the polls showed a lot of big talk and then the purchase intent more or less normalized by the beginning of the summer and nothing happened and United's revenue actually went up for the year. So why do these boycotts rarely stick?

Paul Etchison:

And I'm going to tell you why this matters to us as dentists because people want to optimize their own experience, not just follow someone else's story. So when you get these patients, they leave you this one-star review. We think everyone's going to see it and it's so embarrassing and, oh my gosh, it's going to give me the worst reputation ever, but the fact of the matter is is if your patients have a good experience, when they come in, they are not going to care what that says. I mean those reviews they sting. But the silent majority that's not trashing you online. They're judging you on their appointment only on their appointment today, the experience they've had and the experience of the people that they've sent to your office. So it doesn't matter, and this is why it's so important.

Paul Etchison:

When we're creating patient experience, I always explain to my team what does the customer want? I remember learning this in undergrad I was an advertising major and they said what does the consumer want? The consumer wants consistency. They want to know that what they bought last time they can get it next time and if they send anyone to the business, that person's going to have the same experience. So it's all about consistency and this is what comes from the systemization and getting everything in writing and just talking with your team about how you do things. So I want to tell you about my own United moment I had recently and I've had a number of these, because I've had bad reviews and we don't have tons of them, but we do have them.

Paul Etchison:

And somebody said, oh, check out the local Facebook page. And we had a patient that was asking hey, has anyone had a crown done at Nelson Ridge? And what was weird is this person had already had a crown done at Nelson Ridge and she didn't have any issues with it. She had one done like six years ago long-term patient. And then somebody went on there and said something about how expensive we were. And then somebody else said, oh, they're so expensive, they're ripoff artists, they're scammers. And then someone else went on and said, like oh, they're the most expensive place in town, which I don't really understand how we could be the most expensive place in town. And I want to get on there and like shout this on this Facebook post because, dude, we're in your freaking network. Like we don't even set our own prices. Like we're not the most expensive place in town. Like, eat my. You know what it made me so mad?

Paul Etchison:

And what was weird about it is that a lot of the people that were saying bad things we couldn't find them as patients and they look like they're almost like fake profiles. So I don't know if this is like a new thing. Like you can pay people to smear people. I mean that's pretty dirty. I don't know if that's the case, but it just seemed a little odd. But here I am, I can't defend myself.

Paul Etchison:

We had a few people come up there and defend us. But the fact of the matter was is I'm like here, this is going to be on the internet forever and we're developing a reputation for being expensive, which I guess if you're going to be known for something negative, I'd rather it's expensive than be like crappy or like bad work or bad customer service. I mean, I guess expensive is not that bad, but nonetheless it pissed me off. But then, you know, over the next few days we had some patients come in and say that they saw it. More and more patients came to our defense and it looked like a much more balanced argument. So even if it was bad to some extent, we had patients defending us. It was fine and nothing happened. I mean, nothing ever happens anytime you get a bad review. It's just we feel like everyone's going to see it and it's going to kill our business, but the fact it just doesn't.

Paul Etchison:

So what should we do to manage these reviews in a way that honors our business? Well, if we want to prevent bad reviews in the first place, and if you go read your own one-star reviews, read some other dental offices. Most of the time it is always a misestimate. With insurance, the patient wasn't expecting to pay something and they ended up paying more than we told them or their insurance didn't cover something. Nine times out of 10, it's financial. So here's what I want you to do. You can do whatever you want. It's your practice.

Paul Etchison:

But I sincerely feel for the anger I will feel to get that one star review and know somebody's out there just pissed off saying bad stuff about my practice. I just give them the money back. I don't care, take your money back. I don't care how much. You just paid for this. You're not happy with it. What do you think is fair? I say that all the time to patients. I look them in the eye and I say, hey, I want to take care of you, I want to do what's right. What do you think is fair? Sometimes we're redoing work, sometimes we're writing a check and we never see them again. But that is the cost for me to sleep well at night and not have their review there. So just give the patient the refund, make them happy. Have a company policy for this. My team knows.

Paul Etchison:

If it comes down to it, just write off the balance. I don't care, they don't need to ask permission for that. If they feel like it's the right thing to do, just do it. I can't tell you how many times we've had to deal with a pissed off patient over something like a $49 balance. It's just not worth it. But when things start to escalate, make sure your team knows if they feel like they're losing it, they need to give it to the all-star players that handle that conflict resolution so well. Every team has at least one of these people. Get that person on the phone. If you need to call as the doctor, make a doctor phone call. Make the patient feel better.

Paul Etchison:

I don't love talking to my patients, especially upset ones, so I wouldn't do it. But I guess if I was really concerned about it, I guess I could and teach your team how to de-escalate patients. This is a module that we have in our Dental Practice Heroes training and it's how to handle upset patients, and I'll tell you really briefly what it is. It's two steps. The first step is letting the patient know that you understand how they feel Empathy. The second step is letting them know that you're on their side, that there's no us versus them. We are both on the same side. You say, hey, mr Jones, I'm not sure what I'm going to do to make this right for you, but we're going to figure something out, we're going to take care of you. You do those two things.

Paul Etchison:

The patient is immediately diffused, they're not pissed off anymore. And then when you do get those bad reviews, we always got that instinct to just respond right away F that person. We're going to tell the world how crazy this person is, but never respond the day of. I mean, I've done it Every time. I respond the day of. I always come back the next day and I change it because I always write like really pissed off shit. And you know you want to, but you just got to hold your tongue, you just got to respond calmly. You got to invite to make it right, you've got to apologize for them having a bad experience and all you want to do is just show anyone who's checking out your practice that you're willing to make it right and take care of the patient.

Paul Etchison:

People will look at review numbers and they'll look at the ratings, but they don't read all your positive reviews. They read your negative ones, and they're not even reading the negative ones very deeply, they're just reading how you respond to it. I love when I get a one-star review and it's like three pages long because I know nobody's going to read it and nobody's taking that person seriously. How could anyone take you seriously? You have nothing better to do than to write a three-page one-star Google review and now I can click on your name and I can see all the other one-stars you've written. I mean, come on, yeah, go ahead, write that on my page. It looks really great and, like I said, we're providing a good experience for the rest of our patients.

Paul Etchison:

We're hoping that we're generating enough five-star reviews that this one-star review doesn't matter. And I don't care if you're asking personally or if you're using a service. We use a service at my office. It just generates it, calls it, texts the people hey, leave us a review, you've gotta be doing something to get reviews. Now, at this point in my practice, we're crossing 2,000 reviews now. We don't care so much about reviews anymore. 2,000 reviews now. We don't care so much about reviews anymore.

Paul Etchison:

But when you open your practice and you don't have that many, you need to be verbally asking because this is important. It's part of your reputation and it's part of what attracts new patients to your office. And then my last thing to recommend for you is measure what matters. Don't measure that one-star review, it doesn't matter. Measure your numbers. Measure your reappointment rate, measure your cancellation rate. What your new patient call conversion is what your treatment acceptance is. These are the things that are an accurate representation of how well your practice is running, not that one-star review. So, summing up, we all get that one-star review every now and then and we all say, oh my gosh, the sky is falling. Reset yourself, know that it doesn't matter. The patient doesn't care what other people say. They only care about their personal experience with your brand and that's all that's gonna matter to them.

Paul Etchison:

And reviews, like it or not, it's something we need to manage. So we have to have a plan in our practice for how do we handle upset patients. What is our policy? And you, as the doctor and the leader of the practice, you've got to think about. Are you comfortable writing off these balances? How important is it to you to not have bad reviews? For me personally, it's very important. And lastly, systematize your practice and create consistency. And if you don't know how to do this and you don't know where to start. Reach out to us at dentalpracticeheroescom. We will set up a free call with you and we'll talk about what's possible. But we will help you strategically plan something out and execute that plan to get your practice systematized so that it runs without you and makes more profit and gives you more time off. So thank you so much for listening today. I very much appreciate you and we will talk.

Head Shot

Dr. Paul Etchison

Host