Dental Practice Marketing Rules Under AHPRA: What Your Agency Should Know

Dentistry is a registered health profession, which means every piece of marketing your practice publishes, from your website to a single Instagram story, is regulated under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law. Breaching section 133 of the National Law is an offence, and it’s the practitioner’s registration on the line, not the agency’s.

Yet most marketing agencies have never read AHPRA’s advertising guidelines. If your agency can’t explain the rules below without googling them, your practice is carrying risk it doesn’t know about.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

What law covers dental advertising in Australia?

Section 133 of the National Law prohibits advertising a regulated health service in a way that is false, misleading or deceptive, offers a gift or discount without stating the terms, uses testimonials about clinical aspects of care, creates an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment, or encourages the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of health services. AHPRA’s Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service explain how these rules apply in practice, and the Dental Board of Australia enforces them for the profession.

Can a dental practice use testimonials?

Not about clinical care. Testimonials that reference the clinical aspects of your service, the diagnosis, the treatment, the outcome, cannot be used in your advertising. That includes republishing Google reviews on your website or sharing them to social media. Patients are free to post reviews on independent platforms; the breach happens when the practice uses them in its own advertising. Reviews about non-clinical matters, such as parking or friendly reception staff, are treated differently, but the safest practice is not to curate or republish patient reviews at all.

What are the rules on before and after photos?

Permitted, with conditions. Images must be genuine, of your own patients, consistent in lighting, angle and framing, not edited in a way that misleads, and accompanied by appropriate consent. Since 2 September 2025, AHPRA’s guidelines for advertising higher-risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures add stricter requirements again, including a clear warning that results vary.

Do the 2025 cosmetic advertising guidelines apply to dentists?

Yes, where higher-risk cosmetic procedures are advertised, and the guidelines specifically capture dental veneers. If your practice advertises veneers, that advertising must now meet the same standards as cosmetic clinics: genuine unedited imagery, results-may-vary warnings, no testimonials including from influencers, no content targeting under-18s, and no language that trivialises the procedure or creates unrealistic expectations, such as “perfect smile guaranteed”.

Who can call themselves a specialist?

Specialist titles are protected. Only practitioners with specialist registration can use titles such as orthodontist, periodontist, prosthodontist, endodontist or paediatric dentist. A general dentist who advertises “specialising in orthodontics” or “implant specialist” is breaching the National Law, even if the work is genuinely their focus. Compliant alternatives exist, such as “dentist with a special interest in orthodontics”, and the wording matters.

Can dentists use the title “Dr”?

Yes, but AHPRA’s guidance is that practitioners who are not medical practitioners should make their profession clear when using the title in advertising, for example “Dr Jane Smith (Dentist)”. Using “Dr” in a way that could mislead the public into thinking a practitioner is a medical doctor risks breaching the misleading advertising provisions.

What claims can’t a dental practice make?

Anything that can’t be substantiated or that creates unreasonable expectations. Common examples we see on dental websites: “pain-free dentistry”, “guaranteed results”, “the best dentist in [suburb]”, and comparative claims about other practices. Offers and discounts are permitted, but the terms and conditions must be clearly stated in the advertising itself.

What should you expect from a compliant agency?

At minimum: every page, post and EDM reviewed against the AHPRA guidelines before publishing, correct use of titles across the site, a testimonial policy, imagery consent processes, and awareness that the rules changed in September 2025. Ask your current agency what section 133 is. The answer tells you everything.

Frequently asked questions