The Impact of the COVID-19 Virus on Dental Practice

We did an analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 virus, otherwise known as the coronavirus or the Chinese virus, on dental practice, which is maybe more about the effect that the news about this virus is having on patients.

At Infinity Dental Web, we monitor the patients using our online appointment request forms to ask the dental office to contact them to set up an appointment. About one out of every five new patients will use this appointment request form rather than call the office for an appointment, and these are sometimes used by existing patients who are asking for appointments.

Last week, and up through Monday of this week, appointment requests were coming in at an average rate. However, starting on Tuesday morning through this morning, appointment requests are down an average of 64.8%. Some of our clients have decided to close. Others are operating at greatly reduced levels. Many of our clients who are running paid online advertising (Google ads or other pay-per-click ads) have suspended those ads until the country is through this crisis.

We have also followed the online Dentaltown forum where dentists from Arizona and around the country have been discussing, in a couple of discussion threads, what they are doing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have closed. Everyone who is open who has commented on the forum has said that they have had a lot of cancellations and no-shows. One dentist in Florida reported that another dentist a couple of miles from his office was trying to take advantage of the situation by offering a 30% discount on all treatment.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Arizona State Board of Dentistry issued a statement. Some reported that they were considering telling dental offices they needed to shut down, but instead they just ratified the recommendation of the American Dental Association that dentists postpone elective procedures in response to the spread of the coronavirus disease.