Following up dental patients who aren't ready yet
Last reviewed against the regulators’ own text, linked in the sources below.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Dental patient nurture means staying in planned, consented contact with people who enquired about treatment but aren't ready to decide, so they come back to you when they are. For implants, full-arch and aligners, following up dental enquiries this way matters because the decision can take weeks or months, and a single call after the consultation rarely covers it.
Nurture is done by the practice, because it's a conversation with the practice's own patients and enquirers. What follows: why so many enquiries aren't ready, what good nurture looks like, the consent it needs before anything is sent, and how to measure whether it works. Nurture is one stage of what happens after the enquiry.
Why most enquiries are not ready
A patient enquiring about implants is often at the start of a decision, not the end. They may be comparing practices, waiting to see whether finance is possible, talking it over with a partner, or dealing with fear of the treatment itself. The stages of that decision for full-arch patients are set out in how full-arch patients decide.
| Reason for "not yet" | What would move them on |
|---|---|
| Cost and finance | A clear price range, a finance example, time to plan |
| Fear of pain or sedation | Information on sedation options and what treatment feels like |
| Time off work and recovery | A realistic timeline of appointments |
| Comparing practices | Evidence of experience and a clear process |
| Partner or family decision | Something they can share at home |
| Other priorities | Nothing now; a light, consented check-in later |
A practice that treats "not yet" as "no" loses these patients to whoever is still in touch when they are ready.
What nurture looks like
Nurture is the practice answering, at a sensible pace, the questions that stand between the patient and a decision. It isn't a stream of offers.
| Element | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Agreed next contact | Treatment coordinator or practice manager | Set at the consultation: when, and how the patient prefers |
| The information they asked for | Practice | A written plan, costs and finance example |
| Check-in calls | Treatment coordinator | At the time agreed, not at random |
| Occasional email or text | Practice | Only with the right consent; useful content, not pressure |
| Remarketing adverts | Marketing | Only to visitors who consented to advertising cookies |
| Pages on cost, finance and process | Marketing | What the practice's messages link to |
Marketing's part is the material the practice's messages point to: clear pages on cost, finance and the treatment process, remarketing to consented visitors, and the measurement. The contact itself belongs to the practice.
Consent first
Consent decides what the practice may send, and it has to be settled before the first message, not after. The rules for emailing and texting patients are covered in full in emailing and texting patients under PECR. The points that shape nurture are these:
- Information the patient specifically asked for is solicited. The ICO treats a message someone specifically requested, such as a brochure, as solicited marketing, and most PECR rules apply only to unsolicited messages1. Sending the plan and costs they asked for is a different thing from adding them to a marketing list.
- Unsolicited marketing by email or text needs consent, or the soft opt-in. The ICO sets out when marketing to an existing customer who bought or negotiated for a similar service is allowed without specific consent, and what opt-out chance must be given2. Whether an enquirer qualifies is a question to check against that guidance, not to assume.
- A patient can stop marketing at any time. The ICO describes the right to object to direct marketing as an absolute right with no exemptions3.
- Remarketing needs cookie consent. The ICO says advertising uses of cookies and similar technologies need consent and can't rely on any exception4.
Measuring it
Nurture is easy to do badly and hard to see without measurement. Track the not-ready patients as a group, by the month they first enquired.
| Measure | Definition | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Not-ready patients | Enquiries or consultations with no decision | Practice management system (PMS) |
| Consent recorded | Share with a recorded, valid basis for later contact | Consent records |
| Agreed contact made | Check-ins made on time ÷ check-ins due | Contact log |
| Re-engaged | Patients who reply, rebook or ask a new question | Contact log, diary |
| Accepted and started | Treatment starts from the not-ready group | Practice system |
| Time to decision | Days from first enquiry to acceptance | Practice system |
| Opt-outs | Patients who asked to stop | Consent records |
| Not-ready cohort | Patients | Consent recorded | Re-engaged | Started |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Month] | [n] | [n] | [n] | [n] |
| [Month] | [n] | [n] | [n] | [n] |
Compare cohorts before and after the practice starts a structured process, and keep counting for months. Starts from this group arrive late, often long after the ad platforms stop being able to credit the original click, which is why the practice's own records are the source of truth here.
If you want to see how many of your enquiries are sitting in "not yet", email me at Fayez@imfayez.com. That first look is free: I see what your site, ads and local results offer someone who isn't ready yet, from the outside, and reply with what I find. How I work with a practice is in how I work.
Sources
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ICO: Key concepts for direct marketing using electronic mail, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩
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ICO: Electronic mail marketing, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩
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ICO: Right to object, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩
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ICO: What are the exceptions?, accessed 1 October 2026. ↩