GDC advertising checker
Paste the wording from your practice website, a social post or an advert, and see what may break the GDC's guidance on advertising or the ASA's rules: specialist titles, prescription-only medicines like Botox, guarantees, pain-free and best-in-town claims, and the details every practice website must show. Your text stays in your browser.
What it looks for
- Specialist titles and "specialising in" used by someone who may not be on a GDC specialist list
- Botox and other prescription-only medicines named in adverts
- Guarantees, "pain-free", "safe" and "best in town" claims that need evidence
- "Dr", fellowships in abbreviated form, before-and-after photos, testimonials, "free" and "from" prices
- On a website: GDC numbers, qualifications, complaints procedure, the GDC's details, NHS or private, and the date it was last updated
The rules in brief
The GDC's guidance on advertising applies to every dental professional, and the ASA applies the UK advertising code to websites, social media and ads. In short:
- Specialist titles such as orthodontist, periodontist or "specialist in" are only for dentists on one of the GDC's specialist lists. Everyone else can say "special interest in", "experienced in" or "practice limited to". There's no specialist list for implants, cosmetic dentistry or facial aesthetics, and titles like "smile specialist" or "denture specialist" can mislead.
- Botox and similar injections are prescription-only medicines, which can't be advertised to the public. You can say you offer consultations for treatments to reduce lines and wrinkles, without naming or promoting the medicine.
- Claims need evidence and mustn't raise expectations unfairly. Guarantees, "pain-free", "completely safe", "permanent" and "best in town" are where most complaints start.
- "Dr" is a courtesy title for dentists. Make clear you're a dentist, not a medical doctor.
- Every practice website must show: each dental professional's qualification, the country it's from and their GDC number; the practice's name, address, phone and email; the GDC's address or a link to its website; your complaints procedure and who to go to if a patient isn't satisfied (the NHS body for NHS treatment, the Dental Complaints Service for private treatment); whether you're NHS, mixed or private; and the date the website was last updated.
- Treatment adverts on social media should say the treatment may not suit everyone and depends on an assessment.
We check every advert, page and post we write for practices against these rules. Dental practice websites explains how we build sites that meet them, and the free website review includes a check of your home page.
Sources
Questions
Do you see what I paste?
No. The check runs in your browser and nothing you paste is sent to us or stored.
If nothing is flagged, are we compliant?
Not necessarily. The checker looks for common problem wording. It can't judge whether a claim is accurate, whether a photo is genuine, or whether a dentist is on a specialist list. Use it as a first pass before someone reads the page properly.
Something is flagged but it's fine for us. Why?
Some flags depend on facts the checker can't know. "Specialist orthodontist" is right for a dentist on the GDC's orthodontic specialist list, for example. Each flag says what to check.