The Secret to Getting Patients to Use Dental Benefits? Mass Messaging

Having access to dental benefits is a privilege but even so, many people do not use them! Or, they do what dental and oral surgery practices all over the world are getting all too used to: finally get around to using them in December.

This is where patient engagement is key. Communicating strategically with your patients can help to mitigate the end-of-year rush — especially when you leverage mass messaging.

Challenges with Navigating Dental Benefits

There are a few reasons that people may not use their benefits. Some of the reasons might include poor communication from employers who supply the benefits or just a general lack of awareness on the part of the employee. If employers or benefit providers do not communicate the importance of using dental benefits, employees might not feel encouraged to take advantage of them. 

And, many employees are unaware of the full extent of their dental benefits. They might not know what services are covered or how frequently they can use their benefits, leading to people underusing their benefits. Not to mention dental insurance can be confusing, with varying coverage for different procedures. Employees might not fully understand how copays, deductibles, and covered services work, which could discourage them from scheduling appointments. A recent study indicated that only 68% of people understand the nuances of their benefits package.

A similar issue might be cost misconception. Even with dental benefits, employees may assume that dental visits are too expensive, even with insurance. They may not understand how much of the cost is covered, especially for preventive services like cleanings and exams, which are often fully or partially covered. On top of this, many people are overworked and feel that finding time to schedule and attend dental appointments can be a barrier. They may feel it’s hard to take time off work, or they might struggle to find a nearby provider within their insurance network.

Lastly, but certainly not least, dental anxiety or fear of pain can lead people to avoid routine dental visits, even when they have insurance that covers preventive care. This fear can contribute to neglecting oral health altogether.

How Patient Engagement Helps

Engaging your patients about their dental benefits demonstrates support and care. With the end of the year approaching, now is a particularly important time to be thinking about trying to actively communicate with patients — before their dental benefits expire for the year. 

Effective communication about dental benefits not only helps patients understand the importance of using what they have paid for. It also serves as a reminder that patients make use of dental insurance to maintain an essential part of their health. And it shows patients that their healthcare provider cares about them.

Here are some key strategies for engaging your patients about their dental benefits:

• Reach out via messaging. Use text messages or email campaigns to remind patients about their unused dental benefits. A personalized message can go a long way in making patients feel valued and informed. For example: “Hi [Patient Name], just a friendly reminder that your dental benefits might expire at the end of the year. Schedule your appointment soon to take advantage of them!”
• Highlight important deadlines. Communicate clearly about the approaching year-end deadline. This urgency can motivate patients to schedule necessary treatments. Tip: use subject lines like “Don’t Lose Your Dental Benefits! Schedule Now!” to grab attention.

• Educate about oral health: Take this opportunity to educate patients on the importance of regular dental visits and maintaining oral hygiene. Some information could include reminding of the importance of oral health for overall well-being and how regular check-ups prevent costly treatments later. 

• Address dental anxiety. Acknowledge that it’s normal to feel anxious about dental visits. Provide educational materials or resources to ease their concerns, such as videos or articles on what to expect during a dental visit or tips for reducing anxiety. 

• Promote preventive care. Highlight the benefits of preventive care and how it aligns with using their dental benefits effectively, such as regular cleanings, x-rays, and fluoride treatments. 

How to Implement These Strategies

As you can see, implementing a patient engagement strategy that focuses on dental benefits requires messaging effectively. This can be executed more easily with mass messaging. 

For example, in the Intiveo platform, practices are able to segment mass messaging according to who you want the message to reach. Some examples of this might include segmentation according to appointment type, or choosing which patients you’d like to target in a marketing campaign based on their recall behavior.

To implement these strategies effectively:

• Plan your communications calendar around the key deadlines.
• Automate reminders using your dental practice management software.
• Personalize messages to increase engagement and response rates.

Patient Expectations Matter

In our recent guide, 5 Trends Your Dental Practice Needs to Know in 2025, one of the trends we identified was rising patient expectations. Let’s contextualize your patients within the rest of their lives for a moment: they are not only your patients, but also customers and consumers. When booking appointments at places like barber shops or nail salons, they often receive text reminders with helpful information, such as parking details, items to bring, and other information like a digital form.

This trend contributes to rising patient expectations, as people increasingly expect personalized engagement not just from a service like a salon, but also from their healthcare providers. They seek convenient methods for receiving instructions and reminders, completing forms, and providing feedback.

In fact, Intiveo’s Dental Patient Engagement: 2024 Benchmark Report, which analyzed data from over 1,700 dental and oral surgery practices, found that patients significantly prefer texting over other communication methods. This preference highlights the demand for user-friendly and accessible communication with healthcare providers.

And, it also gives us a roadmap for how dental and oral surgery practices can engage patients about their dental benefits!

Resources from Intiveo

In addition to the two guides that we’ve referenced, Intiveo offers a number of resources to dental and oral surgery practices across Canada and the United States, including this blog and our podcast, The Patient Experience Blueprint.

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