Plavidian760-666-3130Print and mail production in Vista, California.
Dental practices
Dental direct mail, timed to moves, recalls and benefit resets
Households tend to look for a dentist at predictable moments: after a move, when a child starts school, when new dental coverage begins or when a tooth starts to hurt. Plavidian plans, produces and mails dental postcards, letters and EDDM flats around those moments. Every mailing includes Plavidian Insight™, which tracks addressed pieces through USPS scans.
New-mover postcards for the ZIPs that already send you patients
Recall and reactivation mail, with sealed letters for privacy
Benefits-reset reminders in homes October to mid-November
EDDM flats for a new or relocated office, from 200 pieces
California price and photo rules explained before you design
How mail fits
How patients choose a dentist, and where mail fits
A dental practice gets the most from mail at four moments: when a household moves into its area, when a patient's recall comes due or lapses, when dental benefits are about to reset, and when the practice opens, moves or adds a dentist.
A move or new dental coverage sends a household looking for a dentist, so the mailer should reach the drive area soon after the trigger and answer the practical questions on the piece itself: where the office is, when it is open, which insurance networks it accepts and which languages the staff speak.
Mail backs up a practice's text, email and phone recall reminders: it reaches past-due patients whose number or email has gone stale, as long as the postal address is current. Implants, dentures and orthodontics are costly decisions, so plan them as a short series to the same households, not a single card.
Campaigns that work
Dental campaigns: the trigger, the list and the timing
Each campaign starts from a moment in a household's dental year (a move, a recall date, a benefit reset, a school deadline, a new office nearby), and that moment decides the list, the area and the piece.
New resident welcome
A household new to the area often has no local dentist yet, so a welcome card soon after the move reaches it while it is still choosing.
Who
Recent movers into your service ZIPs, from a new-mover list supplied through a licensed data provider
Where
The ZIPs that already send you patients
When
Monthly, in the same week each month, from a fresh new-mover list ordered for the same ZIPs each time
Piece
6x11 postcard with a map, hours, insurance networks, languages spoken and one clear new-patient offer
Past-due patients already know the office and its dentists, so the reminder only has to prompt a booking. For a practice covered by HIPAA, a patient list is protected health information: the practice needs a business associate agreement with any mail house before sending it. Plavidian signs one and processes patient lists for recall mail; under its data compliance terms, the agreement and Plavidian's written approval of the project come before the file.
Who
Patients past your recall or inactive cutoff, exported from Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental or similar software
Where
No map: the patient file decides who gets it
When
Monthly batches, plus a larger October drop
Piece
Postcard with no treatment details, or a sealed letter for patients who ask; letter-size pieces can add optional Plavidian Sentry™ camera verification
A dental plan's annual maximum resets at the end of each benefit period, and unused health FSA money is generally forfeited at the end of the plan year, so for plans that follow the calendar year, an autumn reminder carries a real December 31 deadline.
Who
Active and recently lapsed patients; optionally, nearby households
Where
Patient file, plus EDDM routes near the office
When
In homes October to mid-November, leaving time to book before December 31
Piece
Postcard with a general reminder, never an individual's benefit balance; a 6.5x9 EDDM flat for neighbors
California requires children in their first year of public school, whether transitional kindergarten, kindergarten or first grade, to show proof of an oral health assessment by May 31 unless a parent claims a waiver (Education Code 49452.8): a real deadline for parents and a clear reason for family and pediatric practices to mail.
Who
Households with children, from a compiled list selected for presence of children
Where
Family neighborhoods within your drive area
When
February to May, then July and August for back-to-school checkups
Piece
6x11 postcard, or a 6.5x9 EDDM flat for dense family neighborhoods
Nearby households need to learn where a new or relocated office is, which insurance networks it takes and when it opens. Every Door Direct Mail reaches every residential address on the carrier routes you choose, with no list to buy.
Who
Every residential address on the chosen routes, businesses left off
Where
The dense residential routes closest to the office
When
Two or three drops a few weeks apart, starting before opening day
Piece
6.5x9, 8.5x11 or 9x12 EDDM flat with the map, parking, hours and networks; 200-piece minimum
A consultation mailer has room to explain the treatment, what the fee includes and how to book, and repeating it to the same households keeps the practice in view while they compare options.
Who
Older homeowner households for implants and dentures; households with children for orthodontics
Where
The parts of your drive area where those households concentrate, checked against the ZIPs your treatment patients already come from
When
Three or four pieces over two to three months
Piece
6x11 postcard or a letter with room to explain; in California, exact fees with what they include, or none
Choosing the area: start from where your patients live
Start from your patients, not a circle: a count of active patients by ZIP from your practice software shows which areas already produce patients. Mail those first, then the neighborhoods beside them. Hygiene patients make the trip again at every recall, so drive time matters more than distance: freeways, canyons and large non-residential tracts can put a nearby ZIP a long drive from the office, and a drawn shape or chosen carrier routes often fit a practice's real draw better than a radius.
The Mailing List Builder counts households by radius, ZIP, city, county, district or drawn shape, filtered by owner or renter, income, householder age (for implant and denture mail) and children (for family and orthodontic mail). It counts households, not patients or movers: the counts come from US Census data bundled into Plavidian's system, not a live feed, combined filters are labeled estimates, and the list itself is built after you order.
For an opening or relocation, the EDDM Route Builder shows the residential and business counts on each carrier route around the office, from the USPS EDDM route service refreshed at least every two weeks, with postage at origin, SCF and DDU entry side by side.
Use EDDM for awareness on the streets around a new, relocated or growing office, where every household nearby is a possible patient. Use an addressed list when the campaign is defined by who gets it: new movers, your own patients, families or older homeowners.
EDDM Fits when
A new office, relocation or new associate the neighborhood should hear about
Dense single-family routes a short drive from the office
A neighborhood version of a benefits-reset reminder
List An addressed list fits when
New movers, from a fresh list each month
Recall and reactivation mail to your own patients
Implant, denture or orthodontic offers to older households or families
A 6x11 postcard at letter-size prices, a size Plavidian does not mail as EDDM
EDDM cannot select by homeowner, income, age or name, or leave out current patients. Plavidian mails it on its own permit through the business mail entry unit, so the Retail limit of 5,000 pieces per ZIP Code per day does not apply; Plavidian runs EDDM with flat-size pieces and a 200-piece minimum.
Room for a map, hours, insurance networks and a new-patient offer, while staying within the USPS letter-size maximum of 6-1/8 x 11-1/2 inches, so addressed pieces mail at letter prices. Heavier 16pt stock mails at the same postage.
6.5x9, 8.5x11 or 9x12 for openings and neighborhood reminders. Plavidian runs EDDM with flat-size pieces only, so a 4x6, 6x9 or 6x11 postcard mails as an addressed piece instead.
An 8.5x11 folded once to 8.5x5.5 and tabbed shut to the USPS folded self-mailer standards mails letter-size, with inside panels for services, networks and a new dentist's introduction.
Recall letters, patients who asked for no postcards, and longer implant or orthodontic invitations, in window envelopes that show the address printed on the letter.
Print only: Plavidian does not mail door hangers. For an opening, office staff can hang them on nearby doors; pick them up in Vista, or have them delivered around North County or shipped.
How it runs at Plavidian
How a dental mailing runs at Plavidian
A dental mailing starts in free tools: size the drive area, price the routes around the office and set the in-home week for a recall, benefits or school deadline before you commit. List work, production and tracking follow the order.
Mailing List Builder
Size the audience
Count drive-area households before ordering a list, including those with children for pediatric or orthodontic mail and those with an older householder for implant and denture mail.
EDDM Route Builder
Price the routes
For an opening, pick routes near the office and compare EDDM postage at origin, SCF and DDU entry.
Mail Date Planner
Set the in-home window
Work back from the week the mail should land, such as mid-October for a benefits reminder or March for kindergarten assessments. Order cutoffs are 12:00 PM Pacific (9:00 AM for a 2-day rush on certain products), and production starts after proof approval (Turnaround Times).
Plavidian Studio™
Design the piece
Build the 6x11 postcard or EDDM flat in Plavidian Studio™, the free online designer: it draws the bleed, safe zone and USPS address area and saves the design to your order.
List processing
Prepare the list
Plavidian CASS-processes the list, removes duplicates, households it on request so a family gets one piece instead of one per member, and runs NCOALink move update when the mailing needs it.
Production in Vista
Produce and enter the mail
Data processing, printing, addressing, inserting and USPS preparation run at the Vista plant, and every job, including any work an approved vendor produces, is held to the published Plavidian Standard™. Plavidian mails on its own permits as a USPS Full-Service Certified Mail Service Provider, so the practice needs no permit of its own.
Plavidian Sentry™, optional
Camera verification for letters
Add Plavidian Sentry to letter-size recall mail: cameras read each piece as it is addressed, match it to its record and divert any that fail for reprint.
Plavidian Insight™
Follow the mail
Plavidian Insight, included with every Plavidian mailing at no separate charge, follows each piece through USPS scans: mailstream visibility, not proof of delivery.
Informed Delivery®
Add a digital preview
Plavidian Impression™ runs USPS Informed Delivery® campaigns, adding your image and booking link to enrolled households' daily mail preview; it is not affiliated with or endorsed by USPS.
What it costs
How much dental direct mail costs
A dental mailing costs printing, mailing services and USPS postage, plus a licensed list when you mail addressed pieces to households that are not yet patients: recall mail to your own patients and an opening EDDM drop have no list to buy, while new-mover mail adds a list each month. Quantity, piece size, postage class and entry, and how often you mail move the total. The Direct Mail Cost Calculator prices printing, mailing services and postage for the piece and quantity you choose; a custom quote covers the list and the whole job together.
Quantity
A new-mover mailing is sized by each month's movers into your ZIPs, a recall batch by the patients who came due that month, and an opening drop by the routes you choose; per-piece printing cost falls as the run grows.
Piece size and stock
A 6x11 new-patient card mails at letter prices, while a 6.5x9, 8.5x11 or 9x12 opening flat mails at flat prices. 16pt stock costs more to print than 14pt, not more to mail.
The list
EDDM needs none, and your patient file costs nothing to buy. Licensed lists are for one-time use unless the order says otherwise, so each drop of an implant series needs its own license unless the order covers the whole series.
Postage class and entry
Postage depends on the class, USPS Marketing Mail or First-Class Mail, and on where the mail enters: the EDDM Route Builder prices an opening drop at origin, SCF and DDU entry, and drop-shipping a larger addressed mailing to destination facilities can lower postage.
Frequency
Monthly mover and recall mail spreads cost across the year; a treatment series multiplies the pieces per household, so it goes to a tighter list.
Printing can be paid by card. USPS postage is paid by check or wire, and mail is released once postage has cleared.
Measuring results
Measuring what dental mail brings in
Measure with your own practice data: a separate offer code, phone number or landing page per campaign, a front desk that records how each new patient heard about you, and a count of new patients from the mailed list or ZIPs after each drop. Judge campaigns by patients gained and their long-term value, not someone else's response rate.
Plavidian Insight shows delivery counts, a day-by-day curve and a delivery map from USPS scans, so you can line up new-patient calls with when the mail moved. Scans are not proof of delivery, complete scan data is not guaranteed for every piece, and no scan shows whether anyone read the card. With Plavidian Impression, an Informed Delivery campaign adds USPS campaign reporting.
Rules to know
Advertising and patient privacy rules for dental mailers
California's dental advertising rules and federal patient-privacy rules decide what a dental postcard can say and how a patient list can be used. Outside California, check your own state's dental board rules; the federal items (HIPAA and the rule on gifts to Medicare and Medicaid patients) apply in every state.
Misleading claims, prices and photos
California bars false, misleading or deceptive advertising by healing arts licensees, dentists included. Prices must be exact (no 'as low as', 'and up' or 'lowest prices', so no 'implants from $X'); before and after photos must be comparable, name the procedure and state that the same results may not occur for all patients; a model's photo must be labeled as a model. Bus. and Prof. Code 651
What an advertised fee includes
An advertised dental fee, a new-patient exam special for example, must disclose all services customarily included (among them diagnosis, radiographs, anesthesia, materials and laboratory fees), plus any additional services the patient will be charged for and their fees. 16 CCR 1050
Superiority, guarantees and 'painless'
For dentists, advertising professional superiority, or a dental service as guaranteed or painless beyond what Section 651 permits, is unprofessional conduct. Leave 'best dentist in town' off the card. Bus. and Prof. Code 1680
The practice name on the piece
A dental office practicing under a name other than the dentists' own needs a Dental Board fictitious name permit, and the name must include 'dental group', 'dental practice', 'dental office' or 'dental corporation'. Dental Board of California
Referral rewards
Offering anything of value as compensation or inducement for patient referrals is unlawful for California healing arts licensees, dentists included, so have counsel review any 'refer a friend' reward first. Bus. and Prof. Code 650
HIPAA and your own patients
Recall reminders and mail about the practice's own services are not marketing under HIPAA unless a third party whose product or service is described pays the practice to send them; a manufacturer-paid mailing promoting its product is marketing and needs each patient's authorization (45 CFR 164.508). 45 CFR 164.501
Postcards and requests for an envelope
Practices must accommodate reasonable requests for communications by other means or at another address; HHS guidance gives a closed envelope instead of a postcard as an example. Keep treatment details off recall postcards. 45 CFR 164.522
Patient lists and mail houses
A printer or mail house handling patient information for a practice is a business associate, and a written agreement must be in place before the file is sent (45 CFR 164.502(e)). Plavidian signs business associate agreements for patient lists. 45 CFR 160.103
California medical privacy (CMIA)
California's Confidentiality of Medical Information Act separately bars using medical information for marketing without authorization, so clear any mail selected by treatment history before it goes out. Civil Code 56.10
Free exams and Medi-Cal patients
Offering Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries free services likely to influence their choice of provider can bring federal civil monetary penalties. OIG's December 2016 policy statement treats gifts with a retail value of no more than $15 per item or $75 a year per patient as nominal, and a gift within those limits need not fit an exception; practices that accept Medi-Cal Dental should clear any 'free exam' offer with counsel. HHS OIG policy statement, 2016
General information for planning a mailing, not legal advice. Confirm the rules that apply to you with your regulator or counsel.
Near Vista
Dental mail in San Diego County
Local routes, ZIP codes, entry and timing for practices and shops in the county where Plavidian prints and mails.
Yes, when it reaches households at the moments they choose or return to a dentist: a move, an overdue recall, benefits about to reset, or a new office nearby. Mail on a steady monthly schedule rather than in a single drop, and judge it by the new patients your front desk can trace to each mailing.
What is the best postcard size for dental direct mail?
A 6x11 postcard for addressed mail: it stays letter-size, so it mails at letter prices with room for a map, hours, networks and an offer. For EDDM, Plavidian mails flat-size pieces only: 6.5x9, 8.5x11 or 9x12.
How often should a dental office send direct mail?
Monthly for new movers and lapsed patients, plus seasonal drops: February to May for kindergarten assessments in California, July and August for back-to-school checkups, and October to mid-November for benefits-reset reminders. Send implant, denture and orthodontic offers as a series of three or four pieces.
Enough to cover the area you can realistically serve, more than once: for an opening, the dense EDDM routes nearest the office (Plavidian's EDDM minimum is 200 pieces); for new movers, each month's full list for your ZIPs; for reactivation, every patient past your recall cutoff.
From licensed commercial data providers, not from USPS move data: the NCOALink license terms say NCOALink may not be used to create or maintain new movers' lists. Plavidian can supply new-mover lists, and a monthly mailing means ordering a fresh list each month, not an automatic subscription.
Can a California dentist put prices on a postcard?
Yes, if the price is exact: no 'as low as', 'and up' or 'lowest prices', and the ad must disclose what the fee includes and what costs extra. The practice is responsible for its own advertising, so have the copy reviewed before you approve the proof.
Yes. HIPAA lets a practice mail reminders to patients' homes, and reminders about its own care are not marketing unless a third party pays the practice to send them. Keep treatment details off the card, send a sealed letter to any patient who asks, and put a business associate agreement in place before a patient list goes to any mail house.
Plavidian signs HIPAA business associate agreements and processes patient lists. Under its data compliance terms, the agreement and Plavidian's written approval of the project come first, so talk to a specialist before sending the file.
Count your drive area, set the in-home window, then get one quote for printing, list and mailing from Plavidian, a print and mail production company in Vista, California, serving practices throughout California and nationwide.
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