Before you start: what Meta is good for
Meta ads reach people while they scroll. That works well for treatments people think about for weeks, such as aligners, whitening, veneers and implants. It works poorly for urgent needs: someone with toothache searches on Google instead. We explain why in emergency dentist marketing: why Google Search beats Meta.
- Pick one treatment to start with, ideally your most profitable elective treatment.
- Decide what you can offer as a first step: a consultation, a scan or an assessment, with a clear price or "free" if it genuinely is.
- Make sure someone can call new leads back within minutes during opening hours.
If you cannot do the last point, fix that before you spend anything on ads.
Step 1: Set up the accounts in the practice's name
- Create a business portfolio in Meta Business Suite in the practice's name, using a work email the practice controls.
- Connect the practice's Facebook Page and Instagram account.
- Create an ad account in the business portfolio, set the currency to GBP and the time zone to London. Currency is hard to change later.
- Add a payment method owned by the practice.
- Give staff or your agency access through the business portfolio with the right role, instead of sharing logins.
If an agency runs your ads, the accounts should still belong to the practice. We explain why in how to choose a dental marketing agency.
Step 2: Tracking with the Meta pixel and Conversions API
Without tracking, Meta cannot learn who books, and you cannot see which ads work.
- In Events Manager, create a dataset (the Meta pixel) and add it to your website.
- Track the events that matter: a lead form submitted on the website and a booking confirmed.
- Connect the Conversions API, often available as a built-in integration in your website platform or booking system, so events are recorded even when browsers block cookies.
- Verify your domain in Business settings.
- Make sure your cookie banner and privacy policy cover the pixel.
Since January 2025 Meta has limited the data some health and wellness advertisers can use for ad optimisation, including some lower-funnel events (Click Consult overview). If your account is affected, Events Manager will tell you, and you may need to optimise for leads rather than bookings. That makes good lead handling at the practice even more important.
Step 3: Create the campaign
- Click Create and choose the Leads objective.
- Name the campaign after the treatment and the offer, for example "Aligners | Free consultation | Oct".
- Check the special ad categories. A dental practice usually does not fall into them, but if you advertise finance or credit, the Financial products and services category may apply.
- Start with one campaign per treatment so you can see which treatment pays.
Keep it simple at the start: one campaign, one ad set, two or three ads.
Step 4: The ad set: where leads go, who sees the ad, budget
- Conversion location: Instant forms for the simplest start, or your website if you have a fast treatment page with a short form and tracking in place.
- Location: a radius around the practice that matches how far patients really travel, often 5 to 15 miles depending on the area and the treatment.
- Age: adults, set to match the treatment. Implant campaigns usually skew older than whitening.
- Audience: keep it broad and let Meta find people. Detailed targeting based on health topics was removed by Meta in January 2022 (Search Engine Land), and your ad copy should never imply you know something about the viewer's teeth or health.
- Placements: Advantage+ placements are a sensible default; check how the ad looks in Reels and Stories.
- Budget: a daily budget you can hold for at least two weeks without changing it every day.
Meta needs time and data to learn. Frequent edits restart that learning, so make changes once or twice a week, not every morning.
Step 5: Build the instant form
- Choose the Higher intent form type. It adds a review step before submission, which usually means fewer but more serious leads.
- Ask for name, phone number and email, plus one or two qualifying questions: which treatment they are interested in and when they would like to start.
- Do not ask about medical history or health conditions in the form. Keep clinical questions for the consultation.
- Add your privacy policy link, which Meta requires, and say how you will contact them.
- On the completion screen, add your phone number and tell people when to expect a call.
A short, honest form produces fewer leads than a one-tap form, but far more of them book and attend.
Step 6: The ad itself
- Use real footage: the dentist explaining the consultation, the scanner, the treatment room. Phone video is fine.
- Open with the offer or the question patients ask, for example "Thinking about straighter teeth? Here is what happens at a free aligner consultation."
- State the price or what the first step costs, and what affects the final price.
- Use before-and-after images only with written consent, unedited and representative. The ASA treats them like testimonials.
- Avoid "best", "guaranteed", "pain-free" and countdown pressure. See claims that put dental ads at risk.
- Make two or three versions that differ in one thing, such as the opening line, so you can see what works.
Step 7: What happens after someone submits the form
This is where most dental campaigns are won or lost.
- Send leads straight to your team, by connecting the form to your CRM or booking system, or at minimum to an email inbox someone watches.
- Call within minutes during opening hours, and send a text if they do not answer.
- Book a specific time, not "we'll be in touch".
- Send automated reminders before the appointment.
- Record which campaign each booking came from.
In our own campaign for a dental clinic in Larnaca, €250 of spend produced 12 patients who attended in 14 days, about €20.8 per attended patient (case study). One campaign is not a benchmark, but fast follow-up and reminders were a big part of the result.
Step 8: Read the results properly
- Give a new campaign about a week before judging it, unless something is clearly broken.
- Look past cost per lead: track how many leads were reached, booked and attended.
- Compare campaigns by cost per kept appointment and treatment accepted.
- Turn off ads that bring leads who never answer; keep the ones that fill the diary.
Our LTV calculator helps you decide how much you can afford to pay for a patient who turns up.
Common mistakes
- Boosting posts instead of building a lead campaign.
- Running one campaign for every treatment at once.
- Using the More volume form and getting leads who do not remember filling it in.
- Changing budgets and audiences every day.
- Calling leads back the next day.
- Judging the campaign by likes, reach or cost per lead alone.
Want a second pair of eyes on your Meta setup? Book a free 30-minute audit call.
Founder, YLD · Paid ads for dental clinics
Savva runs YLD, a Larnaca-based agency that builds paid ads and booking funnels for dental clinics and judges every campaign by cost per kept appointment.