Your Google Business Profile has a part that most practice owners forget exists: the questions and answers area. It is public, it sits next to your photos and reviews, and it is open to anyone with a Google account. A stranger can ask whether you take Delta Dental. A competitor's friend can answer it wrong. A patient from three years ago can confidently post your old hours.
Because Google changes how this feature is presented from time to time, and has reduced or removed it on some listings, check what your own listing currently shows. Where it is still available, people can ask and answer questions, and what is posted there can be shown to prospective patients right when they are deciding whether to call.
Why this small feature deserves attention
People with a question usually have a reason to be hesitant. "Do you take emergency patients?" often means "I have a toothache and I need to know I will not be turned away." "Is the first visit expensive?" often means "I have been burned by surprise bills." "Do you offer sedation?" often means "I am scared of the dentist." A clear, friendly, accurate answer sitting on your profile removes a barrier before the person ever calls.
The opposite is also true. An unanswered question looks like a practice that does not pay attention. A wrong answer from a well-meaning patient can set expectations you then have to correct on the phone.
Seed it before someone else does
You are allowed to ask and answer questions on your own listing, and Google's guidance has historically supported business owners doing so when the questions reflect what customers actually ask. The honest way to do this is to post the questions your front desk answers every week and respond clearly from the owner account.
Good starter questions for a dental practice:
- Are you accepting new patients, and how soon can I be seen?
- What should I expect at a first visit, cleaning and exam?
- Which insurance plans do you accept, and do you offer a membership or self-pay option?
- Do you see children, and at what age?
- Do you handle dental emergencies, such as a broken tooth or severe pain?
- Do you offer sedation options for anxious patients?
- Is there parking, and is the office wheelchair accessible?
Keep each answer short, specific, and free of promises about results. "Most new patient visits include a cleaning, an exam and X-rays if needed, and take about an hour" is useful if it is true for your office. "We make teeth perfect and painless" is not, and it can create compliance trouble.
Monitor and respond
Set a recurring task to check the questions on your profile. Weekly is a good rhythm for a busy practice, and monthly is the minimum. Each time you check:
- Answer any new question from the business account within a day or two.
- Look at answers posted by other people. If one is wrong, post a correct official answer. If it is abusive or clearly spam, flag it for removal through Google's reporting options.
- Update any seeded answer that is no longer true, such as hours, providers, or insurance participation. Dental networks change often, so insurance answers go stale quickly.
Turn on notifications for your profile where available so a new question does not sit for a month. If your practice uses a reputation or listings tool, confirm whether it surfaces questions, because some do not.
Keep the language compliant
Dentistry is a regulated healthcare field. Treat every public answer as advertising copy.
- Do not guarantee outcomes, claim painless treatment, or imply certainty about a patient's results.
- Check your state dental board's rules on terms such as "specialist," "best" and "painless," and on advertising of sedation or implants.
- Do not give individual clinical advice in a public thread. If someone asks, "My tooth hurts when I drink something cold, is it a cavity?", reply that an exam is needed to say anything about their situation and invite them to call.
- Do not post or confirm any patient's private information. Even a friendly "Yes, we saw you last week!" can be a privacy problem.
- Keep claims about insurance accurate and general. Coverage depends on each plan, so say that benefits vary and the team can check before the visit.
Handle the awkward cases
Some questions are not really questions. A reviewer may use the thread to air a complaint, or a competitor may post a misleading answer. Respond calmly and factually, once, and move the detail to a private channel. If an answer violates Google's content policies, flag it and keep a screenshot with the date. Never argue in public, and never delete evidence of a problem before you have documented it. A professional tone in a tense thread is often what persuades a reader to trust you.
Use answers to learn
The questions people ask are free market research. If three people ask about weekend hours, either your hours are hard to find or there is real demand to fill. If people keep asking whether you offer Invisalign or same-day crowns, a clear services page that states what you do and do not offer would help. Feed those themes into your website FAQ, your review request wording, and your front desk scripts.
Assign the task to one named person and one backup. Shared responsibilities tend to be nobody's, and a question that sits unanswered for weeks looks worse than no question at all.
A short monthly routine
Add this to the same recurring task as your review replies and photo updates:
- Open your profile as a signed-out visitor and read the questions section.
- Answer new questions and correct wrong ones.
- Confirm hours, phone, and booking link are current.
- Copy any new recurring question into your website FAQ.
- Log what you changed so the next person who covers it knows.
Our TopRankPro service includes this kind of profile upkeep, because small profile details tend to decide whether a hesitant visitor becomes a call. For the wider plan, see our dental marketing overview. If you want us to look at your listing and tell you what a first-time visitor sees, book a strategy call and we will review it with you.
