A blog for your clinic that answers patients before they are in the chair.

Most people choosing a dentist or a clinic have a worry first and a search second: a child’s first visit, a tooth that aches on cold water, a quote for aligners. A post that explains what will happen, in plain words, is often what turns a nervous reader into an appointment.

It also saves your front desk time. The questions every new patient asks on the phone, answered once, properly, and linked from your booking confirmation.

• First visits: “When should a baby first see a dentist?”, “What happens at a new-patient exam?”, “Can I stay in the room with my child?”
• Procedures, explained: “What happens during a root canal, step by step”, “How long does a filling take?”, “What a scale and polish involves”.
• Choices to talk through: “Braces or clear aligners: questions to ask at your consultation”, “Whitening: who it suits and what it cannot change”.
• Nerves: “How we help anxious patients”, “What to say if you have not been to a dentist in years”.
• Practical: “What to bring to your first appointment”, “How to check what your insurance covers before treatment”, parking, access and evening or weekend hours.
• For other clinics (physiotherapy, dermatology, general practice): what a first appointment involves, how to prepare, and when to come in rather than wait.

Health advertising is regulated almost everywhere, and the rules are stricter than for a bakery. Check your own professional council’s rules (in India, the National Medical Commission and the Dental Council of India; in the US, your state board, and the FTC for advertising claims). In general:

• No diagnosis in a post. Explain what a symptom can mean and say when to come in; never tell a reader what they have.
• No promises. “Painless”, “guaranteed”, “permanent” and “best in the city” are the words regulators and unhappy patients quote back.
• No medicines or doses. Not even the ones everybody takes. That conversation belongs in the chair.
• No patient stories or before-and-after photos without written consent. In the US, using patient information in marketing generally needs the patient’s authorisation under HIPAA.
• Name the clinician who checked it. In CMSKite an author is a name on the post, not a login, so a dentist who reviews posts can be credited without an account. Today the author is set through the API or an AI assistant; the dashboard editor has no author picker yet.

Every AI draft follows your brief, set once in Website settings → AI writing brief. For a clinic, the “Never” line matters most. This one is for a made-up practice in Columbus, Ohio:

Topic: “Your child’s first dental visit: what happens and how to prepare them”. Keywords: first dental visit child, when should a baby see a dentist. Tone Professional, length Medium, language English. This is the whole draft, exactly as it came back:

No medicines, no promises, no “best”, and the three facts from the brief are used correctly. It is still not ready for a clinic’s website:

• Check the quoted guidance against the source. It attributes advice to the American Dental Association; the dentist should confirm the exact wording on ada.org and link to it rather than paraphrase.
• A list that reads like symptoms. “A desire to chew, or any discomfort after feeding” as signs it is time to book is close to the diagnosing the brief rules out. Cut it.
• Details the practice never gave. “Usually under ten minutes”, “a child-sized chair” and “no X-rays are taken unless there is a specific reason” are not in the brief. Confirm each one or delete it.
• The booking line has no link. Add the online booking address, and a phone number if you take calls.

• On your practice website. Two lines on one page show the posts on WordPress, Wix, Squarespace or any other site, in its own fonts and colours.
• Before you have one, the free blog link works on its own and can go in your booking confirmations.
• One person approves. With roles, a writer can draft and only the dentist or practice manager can publish; publishing is a permission of its own.