Does your dental practice give patients a dental swag bag after each visit? Swag bags usually include a toothbrush, dental floss, and maybe a sample size of toothpaste. Are they worth it? You bet.

Posted in Risk Management on Thursday, October 1, 2015

Does your dental practice give patients a dental swag bag after each visit? Swag bags usually include a toothbrush, dental floss, and maybe a sample size of toothpaste. Are they worth it? You bet.

Swag bags are an easy way to advertise your dental practice. You can brand the outside of the bag with your dental practice name and logo, as well as your website address and phone number. The bags are also a form of communication with your patient - persuading him/her to continue or start an action you deem important to his/her oral health (i.e., flossing).

Perhaps just as important, swag bags create goodwill; that intangible asset every business owner craves. Goodwill is defined by words like kind, helpful and friendly. While you want your patient to be more diligent with his/her oral health, you also want him/her to think of you, your staff and your office between dental appointments.

In the August 2015 Dentaltown Magazine article, Finding the Hidden Treasure: Prevention = Treatment + Motivation + Compliance, author Barbara Vugteveen, RDH, illustrates the value swag bags have in motivating patients to comply with treatment recommendations.