General information only. This summarises public guidance as at October 2026 and is not legal advice. Rules change, so check the current Ahpra, Dental Board and TGA guidance, and get advice for specific situations.
The rules that apply to dental advertising
Four layers of regulation shape what a dental practice can say.
| Source | What it does |
|---|---|
| Section 133, Health Practitioner Regulation National Law | The legal prohibitions on advertising a regulated health service. Maximum penalties are $60,000 per offence for an individual and $120,000 for a body corporate. |
| Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service (Ahpra and the National Boards) | Explain how section 133 applies. In effect since 14 December 2020, and a court may have regard to them. |
| Guidelines for non-surgical cosmetic procedures, and for advertising higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures | Issued 2 September 2025 and apply across the regulated professions, including dentistry. Dental veneers are listed as a higher risk procedure. |
| Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 and TGA guidance | Prescription-only medicines, including most cosmetic injectables, cannot be advertised to the public. |
Section 133 says "a person must not advertise" a regulated health service in the prohibited ways, and Ahpra treats whoever authorises or controls the content as the advertiser. That includes practice owners who are not dentists, so anyone writing dental ads needs to know these rules.
Section 133, limb by limb
Section 133(1) prohibits five things. Here is each, with the dental wording that tends to cause trouble.
1. False, misleading or deceptive claims
This is the broadest limb. Ahpra's guidelines say claims must be substantiated, mostly by peer-reviewed research rather than a single case study. Common dental risks:
- Using "specialist", "specialises in" or similar without specialist registration. Ahpra says wording such as "substantial experience in" or "working primarily in" is less likely to mislead.
- Price information that is unclear, inexact or vague, or an instalment amount shown without the total cost.
2. Gifts, discounts and other inducements
Offers are allowed only if the advertisement also states the terms and conditions. Ahpra says they should be in plain language and easy to find. A new patient check-up offer should say what is included, who is eligible and when it ends.
3. Testimonials
Advertising must not use testimonials or purported testimonials. Ahpra defines a testimonial as a recommendation or positive statement about the clinical aspects of a service: the symptom, the diagnosis or treatment, or the outcome, including the practitioner's skill.
4. Unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment
Ahpra's examples include advertising that overstates benefits, plays down risk with words like "safe", "risk-free" or "pain-free" without acknowledging possible adverse reactions, presents a treatment as certain or a sure cure, claims an exclusive skill, or uses images of unrealistic outcomes. "Pain-free implants" and "a perfect smile in one visit" are the kind of lines this limb targets.
5. Encouraging indiscriminate or unnecessary use
Watch urgency linked to health with no clinical basis. Ahpra's examples include "don't delay", "don't miss out" and "for a limited time only". It also flags encouraging regular appointments with no clinical indication, and prizes, discounts or gifts that encourage use regardless of clinical need.
In our view, a recall reminder at the interval a dentist recommended for that patient differs from a blanket "come in every three months" campaign.
Financing deserves care too. In May 2024 the Dental Board said approved early release of superannuation for dental treatment rose to $313.4 million in 2022/23, from $171.3 million the year before, and urged practitioners to follow the advertising rules when promoting it.
Reviews, testimonials and Google
The key distinction is between reviews patients post on platforms you don't control, and reviews you use in your own advertising.
| Situation | Generally | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Patients leave clinical reviews on your Google Business Profile | Not your breach | Ahpra says advertisers are not responsible for removing testimonials on platforms they don't control. Take care engaging with them. |
| Reposting a review about treatment results on your website or social media | Breach | Republishing a clinical review uses it as a testimonial in your advertising. |
| Quoting a review about friendly reception staff or easy booking | Generally allowed | Comments about customer service or communication style that don't mention clinical aspects are not testimonials. Publish them complete and unedited. |
| Showing a star rating or award symbol from a rating site | Unlikely to breach | Ahpra says a rating symbol is not a testimonial, but republishing the reviews behind it can be. |
| Clinical comments left on your own Facebook or Instagram page | Your responsibility | Remove them, or disable review functions where the platform won't let you remove them. |
| Editing a mixed review to keep only the positive part | Avoid | Ahpra says editing reviews this way distorts the feedback. |
Responding to Google reviews
Ahpra cautions that engaging with reviews on third-party sites may be treated as using a testimonial to advertise. In practice: thank people for feedback about service, don't restate or amplify clinical claims, and never discuss a patient's care in a public reply.
For higher risk cosmetic procedures, the 2025 advertising guidelines go further. Practitioners must take steps to ensure they do not interact with testimonials, such as by liking or responding to them.
Consumer law on reviews
The ACCC says it is against the law for a business to create fake or misleading reviews, or arrange for others to. Undisclosed reviews by staff, family or paid associates mislead, incentives must apply whether a review is positive or negative, and removing genuine negative reviews can mislead consumers.
Social media and influencers
Ahpra's social media guidance confirms the National Law applies on social media, and a testimonial in social media advertising is a breach. Its FAQs say to remove testimonials people post on your page and not to share or re-post clinical comments. Check photo backgrounds before posting: small details can identify a patient.
For higher risk cosmetic procedures, practitioners who use influencers, ambassadors or content creators are responsible for what those people publish, and the testimonial ban applies to it.
Before-and-after images
Before-and-after photos are not banned outright, but they come with conditions.
General dental advertising
Ahpra advises care. Images are less likely to mislead when both photos closely match in angle, background, framing and lighting, and the treatment is the only visible change. Images that are not genuine, have been edited or enhanced, or show unrealistic outcomes risk breaching the law.
Veneers and other higher risk cosmetic procedures
The 2025 advertising guidelines set firmer rules:
- Images must not be edited or enhanced, and both must be genuine and closely matched.
- The "after" image should state how long after the procedure it was taken.
- A prominent warning must say the outcomes shown are only relevant for this patient.
- Patients must give fully informed consent to advertising use, separate from consent to the procedure, and can withdraw it.
- No images of people under 18, no naming patients or linking to their social media, and no models or celebrities unless it is established they had the procedure.
- No apps or tools that predict how someone will look after a procedure.
We apply this stricter standard to all before-and-after images, including whitening and orthodontics.
Cosmetic dentistry and the 2025 guidelines
Two sets of guidelines took effect on 2 September 2025, after the Dental Board published advance copies on 3 June 2025: one for practitioners who perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures, and one for advertising higher risk procedures. They apply across the regulated professions.
The practice guidelines define non-surgical cosmetic procedures as procedures whose dominant purpose is a more desirable appearance, and note they may involve altering body tissue such as teeth. The advertising guidelines list dental veneers first among their examples of higher risk procedures, alongside botulinum toxin and dermal fillers.
What changes for advertising
- No advertising targeted or directed at people under 18, and social media ads for these procedures identified as adult content.
- Where an ad names a practitioner, it must include their registration details, including registration number.
- No trivialising terms such as "artist", "sculptor" or "magic hands", and care with captions like "perfect", "instant" or "more natural".
- No "gentle", "simple", "safe", "quick" or "easy" without clear risk information, and no downplaying of pain or recovery.
- No sexualised imagery or lifestyle shots on beaches or beds, and no procedures offered as competition prizes.
Cost information must be clear, accurate and honest, and the practice guidelines add financial limits. Practitioners must not offer, promote or recommend financing schemes such as loans or commercial payment plans, though they can list accepted payment methods such as credit cards or buy now, pay later. They must not provide or offer free or discounted procedures to prospective or existing patients, including influencers, for promotion of cosmetic procedures. Treat promotional discounting on cosmetic work as high risk and get advice. Patients under 18 also need a cooling-off period of at least seven days between informed consent and the procedure.
Anti-wrinkle injections and prescription medicines
The TGA says most cosmetic injectables contain Schedule 4 substances that cannot be advertised to the public under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. That covers words, pictures and designs that promote the product, including trade names, nicknames, acronyms and hashtags.
Its May 2024 guidance says it no longer expressly permits terms such as "wrinkle reducing injections" or "dermal fillers" where a consumer would read them as promoting a prescription-only product, and that it cannot provide a list of acceptable substitutes. It suggests focusing on the types of consultation available rather than the therapeutic goods used. A price stated in reference to a prescription-only injectable is likely to be treated as advertising the product.
So "anti-wrinkle injections from $X per area" is a high-risk line, and promoting the consultation is the direction the guidance points.
What you can say instead
The rules remove the cheap tactics, not the useful ones.
- Clear treatment information. What the treatment is, who it suits and who it doesn't, the steps, the number of visits, recovery, risks and alternatives. Balanced information is the opposite of an unreasonable expectation.
- Qualifications and registration. Degrees, registration, specialist registration where it is held, and accurate descriptions of experience.
- Transparent pricing. What a fee includes and excludes, what changes the cost, the total alongside any instalment amount, and full terms for any offer.
- Patient education. Answers to the questions patients ask at the front desk, such as what an implant consultation involves or how long aligner treatment takes. The same content answers what people ask AI search tools (see what GEO is).
- Service experience. Opening hours, parking, payment options, interpreters, and non-clinical reviews published complete and unedited.
- Accessibility. Step-free access details, captioned video, readable contrast and forms that work with screen readers. Build to WCAG 2.2, the current W3C web accessibility guidelines.
We write dental content & creative, paid media and SEO & GEO work within these rules, and keep a record of each review.
A pre-publish checklist
We run every dental asset through checks like these before it goes live. They reduce risk. They don't replace the practitioner's own responsibility or legal advice.
- Is every claim accurate and supported by acceptable evidence?
- Does any wording imply specialist registration that isn't held?
- Does any review, quote, story or comment refer to clinical aspects of care?
- Does every offer and price state its terms, eligibility, end date and total cost in plain language?
- Does any word downplay risk, pain or recovery, imply a certain result or create urgency without a clinical reason?
- Do before-and-after images meet the matched, unedited, consented and time-stated standard?
- Does the ad name, show or imply a prescription-only medicine, including by hashtag or price?
- For veneers and other higher risk procedures: is it kept away from under-18s, free of trivialising language, and carrying the practitioner's registration details?
To build these checks into your marketing rather than bolt them on, see how we work with healthcare and dental practices, or read the dental group worked example. When a question needs a lawyer, we will say so.