20 Things Orthodontists Should Blog About

You know blogging is an integral part of marketing your orthodontic practice, which is why you find yourself sitting in front of a blank screen or sheet of paper. Providing informative, quality content to your patients and prospects on a regular basis is hard, especially when you don’t even know where to begin. Here are 20 relevant topics to get your orthodontic blog started.

1. New employees – Did you just add a new employee to your practice? Why not introduce them to your readers? You can provide information about their experience, why they love working in orthodontics, or even some fun facts about them. The best part about this type of blog is it essentially writes itself. Have your new employees answer some questions about themselves when they start and, with a little formatting, your post is complete.
2. New/renovated office – Most people get excited about moving to a new house, and your patients may feel the same way about you moving to a new office. Be sure to include plenty of photos of the construction and finished project, and make it clear when and where your new or renovated office will be open for business.
3. New technology – Orthodontics is constantly changing for the better. As you add new technology to your practice, share the news, explain how it will allow you to provide better treatment, and encourage your readers to come see it in action.
4. Common questions – In seeing patients on a daily basis, your orthodontic team most likely hears some of the same questions over and over: “What can I eat?” “How long will I have braces?” “What should I do if something comes loose?” Answering these questions in a blog post, or a series of posts, provides useful information for your current patients and helps you become an expert in the eyes of potential patients.
5. Types of treatment – There are many ways to help people straighten their teeth, some of which people may not be familiar with. Familiarize your readers with the options available and discuss which ones work best in certain situations. This topic can also be covered in a series of posts, with one post covering one type of treatment.
6. How to take care of braces – From how to brush and floss to what to eat or avoid eating, people with new braces, Invisalign, or a retainer need guidance to ensure their treatment goes as quickly and smoothly as possible. Covering all the dos and don’ts for orthodontic treatment can fill several posts.
7. Putting braces on/taking them off – For most people, having orthodontic treatment only happens once, so the entire process is often very foreign to them. Talking about how to find the right orthodontist, what to expect when someone has braces put on or taken off, and describing the entire process in general should come natural to you and can easily be split up into separate posts.
8. How to afford braces – This is a biggie for anyone considering orthodontic treatment. Any information you can provide about how your practice makes braces more affordable will be welcomed by your readers and may help convince them that treatment (at your practice) will fit into their budget.
9. Why it’s worth getting braces– You know why it’s important to have orthodontic treatment, and potential patients may know why to a certain extent, but this could be a chance to really sell why it’s important to get braces besides the common answer of “getting straighter teeth,” including how it can affect dental and overall health outcomes. 
10. Braces and Invisalign life hacks- There’s a certain amount of adjustments patients will need to make in their everyday life when they begin orthodontic treatment. A few tips and suggestions can help them make the transition a bit easier.
11. Holiday fun- Blogging about holiday-related, braces-friendly treats or activities to correlate with upcoming holidays helps to keep your blog timely and relevant. Each holiday brings its own slew of content ideas. From braces-safe Halloween candy to a gift guide for braces patients, there’s as much to blog about as there are holidays in the year.
12. Braces-friendly treats- Patients and parents of patients are always on the lookout for braces-friendly treats and recipe ideas. Get creative with your recipes, you can even source recipe ideas for the post from current patients and staff members as an additional way to highlight your practice. 
13. Swap this for that ideas- Having bad habits can be tough to break. One sure-fire way of adjusting bad habits is offering easy alternatives to take the place of harmful habits. For example, you can offer swaps for patients who can’t seem to stop chewing gum, but they really need to while they have braces.
14. What age to get braces- Parents of potential patients need to know when is the best time to have the kids start certain treatments or when to fix certain dental issues, and they are often surprised at how young their child should be at their first orthodontic visit.
15. Common dental problems for kids- Many parents may be unaware of all the issues their child may be experiencing that could be corrected by braces or other orthodontic appliances.
16. Why it’s not too late to get braces- Many patients may feel like they missed their opportunity to get braces earlier on. You can explain to your readers how they can still benefit later in life from a straighter, healthier smile.
17. Insurance and treatment- While there are a myriad of insurance plans out there, making it difficult to cover every aspect of coverage, it could be invaluable to your readers to go over what common plans your practice does take and help define common insurance terms and how it would relate to their treatment.
18. What to avoid with braces-  There are plenty of pitfalls to warn your readers about especially when it comes to the foods that need to be avoided with braces. You can even get specific with exact foods that are a huge no-no for braces patients and good alternatives until treatment is complete. 
19. Retainer care, tips, and tricks- As practitioners, you may already be used to all the questions regarding retainers and aligners. Your blog readers could greatly benefit from these frequently asked questions. You could do several blogs going over specific questions you commonly get, or make a blog with the top FAQs you feel are the most important to know.
20. Braces vs Invisalign- With Invisalign becoming a more popular method of orthodontic treatment, there are plenty of questions your readers may have about the differences between braces and Invisalign. You can discuss the benefits of both and what treatment plan is best suited to certain kinds of issues. 

Obviously, there are many other subjects to cover in your orthodontic blog, these are just a few that should almost write themselves. The key to blogging is to continue to provide useful information to your readers, which these topics will do.

If you are still struggling or simply don’t want to take the time away from your practice to blog, Ortho Sales Engine offers custom content creation that will help set you apart from your competitors.