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Guide · Compliance
What you can and cannot say in dental advertising.
Dental advertising sits under professional guidance and consumer advertising rules at the same time. Most breaches are not deliberate, they are a claim nobody checked or a photograph nobody had consent for.
UK dental advertising is governed by General Dental Council standards for registrants and by the CAP Code enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority, with additional rules from the Financial Conduct Authority where credit is advertised and from platforms such as Meta for certain image formats. In practice the four areas that cause most problems are before and after photographs used without recorded consent, misuse of the word specialist, claims that cannot be evidenced, and finance wording that omits required representative information. The practice retains its professional duties; agencies also have responsibilities for the material they create.
- Professional rules
- GDC standards for registrants
- Advertising rules
- CAP Code, enforced by the ASA
- Credit adverts
- Additional FCA requirements
- Who is responsible
- The practice
Before and after photographs
Patient photographs can illustrate a particular outcome, but do not prove typical results
The word specialist
Use of specialist titles is restricted to registrants on the relevant specialist list. Describing a dentist as a specialist, or a practice as specialist in a treatment, when that does not apply is a straightforward and avoidable problem. Phrases like experienced in or with a particular interest in are usually the safer construction, but check the current guidance rather than relying on a form of words you saw elsewhere.
Claims you have to be able to evidence
Under the CAP Code anything you assert must be capable of substantiation. Best, leading, painless, permanent and number one all invite a request for evidence. Comparative claims about other practices attract particular scrutiny, so if you compare yourself with mail order aligners or overseas treatment, make sure every point is accurate and fair.
Patient testimonials and reviews
Permitted with care. Genuine, from real patients, with consent, and not edited in a way that changes meaning. Incentivised reviews and anything that reads as though the practice wrote it cause problems both with the ASA and with the review platforms themselves.
Advertising finance
Credit advertising carries its own requirements, including representative information depending on what you say, and practices offering or introducing credit generally need FCA authorisation as a credit broker. Your finance provider will tell you what wording is permitted. Do not improvise here.
Platform rules on top
Meta restricts certain before and after formats and imagery focused on body parts, independently of professional rules. Badly built dental ads get rejected or accounts limited. That is a commercial problem rather than a regulatory one, but it stops campaigns just as effectively.
Where it usually goes wrong
The mistakes we see most often, in roughly the order they cost the most.
- Publishing patient photographs with no consent recorded at the time
- Describing a dentist as a specialist without the relevant registration
- Superlatives such as best or leading with nothing to evidence them
- Implying a guaranteed result from cosmetic treatment
- Advertising 0% finance without the required representative information
- Reusing wording copied from another practice website without checking it
Questions and answers
Common questions.
Can dentists use before and after photos in advertising?
Yes, with care. They should be real patients with written consent recorded at the time covering marketing use, shot consistently, not edited misleadingly, and presented without implying every patient gets the same result.
When can a dentist be called a specialist?
Specialist titles are restricted to registrants on the relevant specialist list. Where that does not apply, wording such as experienced in a treatment is generally safer, but check current guidance rather than copying another practice.
Who is responsible if a dental advert breaches the rules?
The practice, in almost every case, because it is your registration and your advertising. That is why nothing patient facing should be published without the practice approving it, whoever wrote it.
Can we advertise 0% finance?
Within the credit advertising rules, which require specific representative information depending on the claim. The required authorisation, exemption or appointed-representative arrangement depends on the specific credit activity. Check the FCA position and the provider agreement before promoting finance. Your provider confirms the permitted wording.
Are patient reviews and testimonials allowed?
Yes, if genuine, consented and unedited in any way that changes meaning. Incentivised reviews cause problems with both the ASA and the review platforms.
Does the ASA actually act on dental adverts?
Complaints about dental advertising are made and upheld, often by competitors rather than patients. The cost is usually reputational and the removal of the advert, but it is entirely avoidable.
Related
Where this connects.
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