Choosing the Right Name for Your Dental Practice

Your dental practice’s name serves as the foundation for your personal brand. But all too often, dental specialists devote minimal effort to ensuring that they’ve selected the right name for attracting and retaining patients. It’s important to invest the proper time and resources to getting this aspect of your business right.

At the most basic level, your practice name should be descriptive enough to convey the services it provides. While both “M. Jones, DDS Periodontic Dentistry” and “Newfield Endodontic Associates, P.C.” certainly satisfy this criterion, these names may not be working as hard as they could be.

Even better is a name that conveys an end benefit derived from the services your dental practice provides. This can help to foster an emotional connection with current and prospective patients. “Better Smiles Orthodontics Associates, P.C.” creates a positive vibe that transcends a purely descriptive name.

To create a name that appeals directly to your target audience, first conduct a name generation exercise by examining your geographic market, your area of expertise, and your competition. Then cull your list to the 5-7 top names which best satisfy your objectives. Finally, test the contenders by exposing them to colleagues, friends and potential patients. Remember that dentists are often “too close” to their businesses to evaluate names objectively, so an informal survey among people you know and trust can help counter this bias.

If you have an established dental practice that’s suffering from an identity crisis, don’t be afraid to conduct a name overhaul. A renaming or rebranding of your practice can provide both a spark for success and an opportunity to reconnect with existing dental patients.