Orthodontic treatment is a long commitment. It runs for months, often years, and families often compare more than one practice before they choose. Much of that comparing happens on a phone, on your website. A good orthodontic site answers the questions that decide the choice: is this the right kind of treatment for us, who will we see, how does paying work, and how do we book the first visit.
Three kinds of visitor
- Parents: a dentist mentioned crowding, or a child is reaching the age when friends get braces. They want to know when treatment should start, what the first visit involves and how payment works. The American Association of Orthodontists recommends a first orthodontic check-up no later than age 7.
- Adults: usually thinking about clear aligners, sometimes after trying a mail-order option. They care about discretion, appointment times that fit around work and what an orthodontist adds that a general provider does not.
- Referring dentists: they need a quick way to send a patient over and to hear back about the plan.
The home page should let each of them find their path in one tap. Service pages and a short referral page do the rest.
The first screen on a phone
Before any scrolling, a visitor should see:
- What you do and where: “Orthodontist for children and adults in your city.”
- A Book a consultation button and a tap-to-call number with the hours someone answers.
- Who the orthodontist is, with a real photo, and one credential you can back up, such as board certification by the American Board of Orthodontics if the doctor holds it.
- Your locations, if you have more than one office.
Leave out the autoplay video of smiling models. It slows the page and says nothing about your practice.
Pages an orthodontic site needs
| Page | What it should do |
|---|---|
| Braces | Metal and ceramic options, what wearing them is like, and how often patients come in for adjustments |
| Clear aligners | Who they suit, how often they are worn, and how treatment with an orthodontist differs from ordering aligners online |
| Early treatment | Written for parents: what the first check-up looks for and why some children are monitored rather than treated straight away |
| Adult orthodontics | Discreet options, appointment times and any questions adults ask most at your consultations |
| First visit | What happens, how long it takes, whether records such as X-rays and scans are taken, and whether the consultation is free if you offer that |
| Insurance and payment | Which insurance you work with, how orthodontic benefits usually work, payment plans if you offer them, and whether patients can use HSA or FSA funds |
| Locations | A real page for each office, with its address, hours, parking and the days the orthodontist is there |
| Referrals | A short form for dentists and a direct contact at the practice |
Each treatment page should end with the same next step: book a consultation.
Be clear about money without a price list
Cost is one of the first questions families ask, and silence on it sends them to the practice that explains it. You do not need to publish fees to be clear. Explain what affects the cost of treatment, what the consultation covers, how insurance benefits are applied, and what payment options exist. Then say that the exact figure comes with the treatment plan. Only describe options you actually offer.
Smile photos, with consent
Before and after photos are the strongest proof an orthodontist has. Use your own cases, never stock images, and get written consent from the patient, or from a parent for a child, before a photo goes on the site. Show the same angles before and after, and do not retouch the teeth. Ask whoever handles HIPAA compliance for your practice to check the consent form you use.
Forms and tracking that respect patient privacy
- Keep the consultation request short: name, phone or email, the patient’s age range and a preferred time. Do not ask for medical history on a general website form.
- Patient intake and medical forms belong in your practice management system or a secure patient portal, not in the website’s contact form or an ordinary inbox.
- Ad and analytics tags on booking and patient pages can pass health information to third parties. Keep them off those pages and review the setup with your compliance adviser.
- Send form messages to someone who checks them during office hours, and say when the practice will reply.
Fast on a phone
Parents often look up a practice in a few spare minutes. Google treats a page as good when its main content appears within 2.5 seconds for most visits. Large smile galleries, video headers and online chat widgets are the usual reasons dental and orthodontic sites miss that on mobile.
Our free site check runs Google’s PageSpeed test on the mobile version of your site and explains the result. We describe what the score measures in what your PageSpeed score actually measures.
A quick checklist
- A Book a consultation button and tap-to-call on the first screen.
- Separate pages for braces, clear aligners, early treatment and adults.
- A first visit page and an honest insurance and payment page.
- A real page for each office.
- Your own smile photos, with written consent.
- A short request form with no medical history, and no ad tags on patient pages.
- Main content within 2.5 seconds on mobile.
We design and build websites for dental and orthodontic practices. See our dental website design, run the free site check on your current site, or read about our web development service.