# 5X ROAS in 30 Days: A Dental Google Ads Case Study

- URL: https://petejohnsoniv.com/blog/advanced-dental-google-ads-case-study
- Published: 2026-06-04
- Tags: Case Study, Google Ads, Practice Growth

14 new patients in 30 days. $140 to acquire each one. 5X return on ad spend.

That's what one dental Google Ads campaign did for a practice that, on paper, didn't need our help.

I want to walk through this one because it breaks the usual case-study formula. Most teardowns start with a practice that's a mess: broken website, no reviews, invisible on Google. Easy wins everywhere. This isn't that. This is a practice that was already doing almost everything right, and the lesson is what you do *next* when the foundation is already solid.

The client is Advanced Dental in Connecticut, two locations in Berlin and Cromwell, tagline "Personalized & Comfortable." Dr. Mike Maroon, Dr. Jadee Abbott, and Dr. Jacob LaBauve run the clinical side. Cathy Vumback runs the office. They've been a Lasso MD client since January 2022, and every number in this dental Google Ads case study is real and approved for publication.

## The problem with a practice that's already winning

When Advanced Dental came to us with this specific ask, here's what they already had built:

- A fully functional website with patient *and* staff video
- Clear calls to action throughout
- Local SEO executed well across both Berlin and Cromwell

In other words, the boring foundational stuff that I usually spend the first three months fixing was already done. If you've read [how we doubled new patients for a different practice](/blog/how-we-doubled-new-patients-for-a-dental-practice), you know I'm a broken record about fixing the website before you touch paid ads. Advanced Dental had already done that work.

So what was the problem? They were leaving a specific, high-value patient group on the table.

They wanted more emergency and same-day cases. Chipped teeth. Broken teeth. Extractions. The patient who wakes up at 6am in pain and is going to call *somebody* that morning. Those cases are urgent, high-intent, and they don't shop around for three weeks. Whoever shows up first and looks credible usually wins.

There was also a business reason underneath it. They were bringing on new associates, and new associates need chairs filled. Emergency volume is one of the fastest ways to do that, because it converts now, not in a future quarter.

Here's the thing most owners miss: a same-day emergency case isn't just a one-time crown. It's frequently a new long-term patient who needed a reason to pick you. Win the emergency, and you often win the family.

## The anatomy of the campaign

We built a paid-search campaign on Google aimed squarely at people typing things like "broken tooth dentist near me" and "emergency tooth extraction." Four pieces did the heavy lifting. This is the part you can steal.

### 1. Geotargeting that respects the actual driving radius

We targeted Berlin, Cromwell, and the surrounding areas. Not the whole state. Not a lazy 25-mile circle that dumps budget on people who'll never drive to you.

Someone with a broken tooth wants the closest credible option, today. So precision here does two things at once: it stops you from paying for clicks that won't convert, and it matches the actual urgency of the search. Tight geo is one of the cheapest ways to lift ROAS in dental, and almost nobody dials it in properly.

### 2. Negative keywords to screen out the wrong patients

This is the piece I want you to internalize, because it's where most dental Google Ads budgets quietly bleed out.

We loaded negative keywords specifically to filter out searches tied to state-sponsored insurance. Not because those patients don't matter, but because this campaign was built to bring in PPO-insured, high-intent emergency cases that the economics actually support. Every click we *didn't* pay for was budget redirected to a patient the practice could profitably treat.

Your negative keyword list is a fence. Without it, Google will happily spend your money on "free dental clinic," "DIY tooth pain," and every query that looks related but never books. This matters even more now that Google is handing match decisions to its AI. I wrote about that shift in [the AI Max breakdown](/blog/google-ai-max-replacing-broad-match-dental-ads), and the short version is: negative keywords are doing more work than ever, not less.

### 3. A landing page built to convert one thing

We didn't point the ads at the homepage. We sent traffic to a dedicated page built around a single job: book the same-day appointment.

What was on it:

- **Patient testimonial videos**, so a stranger in pain could trust these people in about eight seconds
- **Clear CTAs**, with the same-day message front and center
- **Zero distractions**. No "meet our 14 services" buffet. Just: you're hurting, we can see you today, here's how to call.

A click is wasted if the page makes someone think. The emergency patient has the patience of a toddler. Match the page to the search, or you paid for a bounce.

### 4. AI follow-up so no lead leaks

This is the part nobody sees and everybody underestimates. We ran every lead through PatientLoop, our AI-powered growth software, from the first inquiry all the way to a booked appointment.

The reason matters. You can run a flawless campaign and still lose half the patients at the front desk, because the call came in during a procedure, or after hours, or while the one person who answers the phone was at lunch. The marketing did its job. The bucket had a hole in it. Fast, automated follow-up is the patch.

## What happened in the first 30 days

Real numbers, attributed to this Google Ads campaign:

| Metric | Result |
|--------|--------|
| New patient bookings | 14+ |
| Customer acquisition cost (CAC) | $140 |
| Click-through rate (CTR) | 4%+ |
| Cost per click (CPC) | $10 |
| Return on ad spend (ROAS) | 5X+ |

A few of these deserve a second look.

A $10 CPC on emergency dental terms is *normal*. Those are some of the most competitive, most expensive keywords in the category, because every practice in town wants the same urgent, high-value patient. Paying $10 a click isn't the story. Turning those clicks into 14 booked patients at a $140 all-in acquisition cost is the story.

And the 5X ROAS is the number that should reframe how you think about ad spend. Most owners stare at the monthly invoice and flinch. The right question is never "what does this cost." It's "what does this return." If you don't know that number for your own practice, [start tracking marketing ROI properly](/blog/dental-marketing-roi-how-to-track-real-results) before you spend another dollar. You can't manage what you refuse to measure.

For context on whether your budget is even in the right range to play this game, I put real numbers behind [how much a dentist should actually spend on marketing](/blog/how-much-should-dentist-spend-on-marketing).

## What Dr. Maroon said

I'm going to let the client talk, because he says it better than I would. Here's Dr. Mike Maroon:

> "As a dentist, I juggle many roles, so I need experts I can trust. With Lasso MD, I finally have a marketing team I can trust. They don't just set and forget, they educate me, refine strategies, and ensure my budget attracts the right patients. Now, we're dialing in campaigns with 95% precision. The website, SEO, and follow-up are all top-notch. If you want real results, work with people who know what they're doing, that's Lasso MD."

The phrase I'd underline is "they don't just set and forget." That's the whole game. We didn't flip a campaign on and walk away. Advanced Dental is still refining strategy with us, now layering in AI-driven call coaching and real-time tracking through PatientLoop, because the front desk conversation is the last mile, and the last mile is where most ad budgets die.

## How to steal this for your practice

Strip away the client name and here's the repeatable system:

1. **Go after high-intent, high-urgency searches.** Emergency and same-day care converts faster than any cosmetic campaign you'll ever run. Start there.
2. **Tighten your geo to the real driving radius.** Stop paying for clicks from people who'll never show up.
3. **Build a negative keyword list and treat it like a fence.** Screen out the searches that don't fit your economics. This single move recovers more wasted spend than any bid tweak.
4. **Send paid traffic to a purpose-built page, never the homepage.** One job: book the appointment. Proof up top, distractions gone.
5. **Close the loop with fast follow-up.** A booked patient beats a missed call every time. If a human can't catch every lead, automate it.

None of this requires a bigger budget. It requires aiming the budget you already have at the right patient, then refusing to let that patient slip through the cracks. That's the difference between ad spend that drains you and ad spend that returns 5X.

If you want me to look at where your current ad dollars are actually going, [book a 20-minute discovery call](https://meetings-na2.hubspot.com/pete-lasso/20-min-discovery-call-) and I'll show you on the spot. Bring your worst-performing campaign. Those are my favorite.

### Sources

- [Advanced Dental Google Ads Case Study](https://lassomd.com), Lasso MD
- [Dental PPC Cost Benchmarks and Average Cost Per Click](https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/02/29/google-adwords-industry-benchmarks), WordStream
- [Lifetime Value of a Dental Patient](https://www.meetdandy.com/learning-center/articles/whats-the-lifetime-value-of-a-dental-patient/), Dandy