AHPRA Advertising Checker for Dental Practices
Paste your website, ad or social post copy and see which words are likely to breach AHPRA’s advertising rules, why, and what to write instead. Free to use, and your copy never leaves your browser.
- Free to use
- Runs in your browser
- Based on AHPRA’s guidelines
- Built for dental practices
A web page, a Google or Meta ad, a social post, a Google Business Profile description or an email. Up to 20,000 characters.
Your copy stays in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or saved.
What the AHPRA checker looks for
Six groups of wording that come up again and again in dental advertising, each flagged with the reason and a safer way to say it. It also flags before-and-after galleries, prescription-only medicine names and numbers that need proof.
Testimonials, ratings and reviews
Patient quotes about their care or the dentist, star ratings, review counts and “what our patients say” sections. Reviews can live on Google; they cannot be repeated in your own advertising.
“Best”, “leading” and other comparisons
Superlatives and claims to be better than other practices, including “Sydney’s best”, “top-rated” and “world-class”. They are almost impossible to prove, so they are treated as misleading.
Promises about results or comfort
“Painless”, “guaranteed”, “permanent”, “lasts a lifetime” and success rates. They create an unreasonable expectation of benefit, because no treatment works the same way for everyone.
Specialist titles
“Specialist”, “specialises in” and titles like orthodontist or periodontist, which only a dentist registered in a recognised specialty may use. Tick the box above the results if a registered specialist is named.
Offers without their terms
Prices, free check-ups, discounts and vouchers with no terms nearby, plus time pressure such as “limited time” or “only 3 spots left”.
Surgery without risk information
Implants, extractions, grafting and sedation mentioned without a statement that there are risks, that results vary, the alternatives and a second opinion.
What AHPRA’s advertising rules prohibit
Advertising a regulated health service is governed by section 133 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, explained in AHPRA’s Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service. It applies to a practice’s website, ads, social media and Google Business Profile, not just printed material. Advertising must not:
- be false, misleading or deceptive, or likely to be;
- offer a gift, discount or inducement without stating its terms;
- use testimonials or purported testimonials about the service;
- create an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment;
- encourage the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of health services.
Specialist titles are covered separately and more strictly. AHPRA’s advertising hub has its own examples and tools for checking advertising.
When your whole site needs checking
The same claim is often repeated across every treatment and location page built from one template, and review widgets or star rating schema can sit where a copy-and-paste check never reaches. A site-wide review catches those.
AHPRA advertising guidelines for dentists
A plain-English guide to what the rules mean for a practice.
Read moreDental website design
New sites with copy and imagery checked against AHPRA rules before launch.
Read moreContent strategy
Treatment pages written to rank and to stay inside the rules.
Read moreQuestions about AHPRA advertising rules
The ones practices ask most when they check their own marketing.
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a screening aid that flags wording commonly treated as a breach of AHPRA’s Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service. Context matters, and the dentist named in the advertising is responsible for it, so they should approve the final wording.
Is the copy I paste stored or sent anywhere?
No. The checker runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you paste is uploaded, saved or seen by us. We only count how many checks are run and how many issues they find.
Can a dentist call themselves a specialist?
Only if they hold specialist registration with the Dental Board of Australia in one of the recognised dental specialties, such as orthodontics, periodontics or endodontics. Implantology and cosmetic dentistry are not recognised specialties. The Dental Board lists them on its specialist registration page.
Can we show Google reviews on our website?
Not about clinical care. Reviews on your Google Business Profile can stay there, but repeating, quoting or embedding them on your own website, ads or social posts turns them into testimonials in your advertising. That includes star ratings and review counts.
Are before-and-after photos allowed?
Only with conditions: they must be your own patients with written consent, taken in consistent lighting and angles, not retouched, and shown with risk information and a statement that results vary. Stock or supplier images presented as your results are misleading.
What should an implant page include?
A clear, visible statement that implant treatment carries risks, naming the main ones, that results vary and suitability depends on an assessment, what the alternatives are, and that patients are welcome to seek a second opinion. Our plain-English guide to AHPRA’s advertising rules covers this in more detail.
Want us to review your whole website?
Request the complimentary audit. We check every page, your schema and your Google Business Profile, and a team member phones the practice to walk you through the findings.