A dental practice website in the UK answers to the General Dental Council as well as to the advertising rules every business follows. The GDC’s guidance on advertising, effective from 30 September 2013, lists what a practice website must display and what each dental professional named on it must give, and the Standards for the Dental Team ask every registrant to follow it. Here is what it asks of a site, how it treats “specialist” and “Dr”, and what the Standards add about prices.
Key points
- A practice website displays the practice’s name and geographic address, its email address and telephone number, the GDC’s contact details or a link to its website, the complaints procedure and the date the site was last updated.
- Each dental professional named as providing care gives their professional qualification, the country it comes from and their GDC registration number.
- Only a dentist on a GDC specialist list may use the title “Specialist”; others may say “special interest in”, “experienced in” or “practice limited to”.
- “Dr” is a courtesy title for a dentist, and CAP’s advice is to say so clearly and prominently.
- The Standards ask for advertising that is accurate and not misleading, and for clear information on prices on the practice’s websites.
What every practice website displays
If you are responsible for a dental practice website, the guidance says “you must ensure that the following information is displayed”:
- “the name and geographic address at which the dental service is provided”;
- “contact details of the dental service, including e-mail address and telephone number”;
- “the GDC’s address and other contact details, or a link to the GDC website”;
- details of the practice’s complaints procedure, with information about who patients may contact if they are not satisfied with the response: “the relevant NHS (or equivalent) body for NHS treatment and the Dental Complaints Service for private treatment”;
- “the date the website was last updated”.
The site must also be updated regularly, so that it “accurately reflects the personnel at the practice and the service offered”. A footer date that moves with each change gives the date the last item asks for; a copyright year does not. Practice publicity also makes clear “whether the practice is NHS (or equivalent health service), mixed or wholly private”, and a website must not display information comparing the skills or qualifications of dental professionals.
Each named professional: qualification, country, GDC number
Every dental professional the website names as providing dental care must display their professional qualification, “the country from which that qualification is derived” and their GDC registration number. Each registrant is also answerable for information that carries their name, whoever produced it: “you are responsible for checking that it is correct”.
The guidance adds: “You must not list memberships or fellowships of professional associations, societies or honorary degrees” in an abbreviated form, “because it may mislead patients”, so letters after a name are written out in full or left off. How we set out a page for each dentist is on our page for dental practices.
“Specialist” belongs to the GDC’s specialist lists
A dentist on a GDC specialist list may use the title “Specialist” or be described as a “specialist in” their field. A dentist who is not on a list “must not use titles which may imply specialist status”, such as Orthodontist, Periodontist or Endodontist, and must not be described as “specialising in” anything. The guidance gives the words that can be used instead: “special interest in”, “experienced in” or “practice limited to”.
There are no specialist lists for dental care professionals, and the guidance gives “Smile specialist” and “Denture specialist” as examples of titles that would mislead patients.
Page titles, menu labels and headings carry titles too, so check each against the same rule.
“Dr”: a courtesy title that says so
CAP’s advice on the title, published on 30 March 2020, notes that the GDC had permitted its members to use “Dr” since 1995, “provided it is clear that it is a courtesy title only”. A dentist who uses it “should clearly and prominently qualify the use of that title with a statement that makes clear it is a courtesy title” and “that a general medical qualification is not held”. In CAP’s words, “the safest and simplest way to avoid confusing consumers” is not to use the title at all.
The advice cites a 2013 ruling in which the ASA found a GDC-registered dental clinic’s “Dr” misleading because it carried neither statement. On a website, a line beside the name, such as “‘Dr’ is a courtesy title; this dentist does not hold a general medical qualification”, carries both statements.
The Standards: accurate advertising and clear prices
The guidance sits under the Standards for the Dental Team. Standard 1.3.3 asks every registrant to “make sure that any advertising, promotional material or other information that you produce” is “accurate and not misleading, and complies with the GDC’s guidance on ethical advertising”.
The guidance asks registrants to “back up claims with facts” and to avoid claims “intended or likely to create an unjustified expectation about the results you can achieve”. Misleading advertising “may lead to a fitness to practise investigation and can be a criminal offence”. Patient reviews have rules of their own, set out in patient reviews on a medical website.
Standard 2.4 reads “You must give patients clear information about costs”. Under it, 2.4.1 asks for a simple price list clearly displayed in the reception or waiting area, and 2.4.2 for “clear information on prices in your practice literature and on your websites”, so that patients do not have to ask for it. Once a fee is on the page, consumer law and the CAP Code decide how it is shown; fees on a private practice website covers the total price, “from” prices and VAT.
The GDC consulted from 2 June to 31 August 2026 on a proposed Framework for Professionalism that would replace the current Standards for the Dental Team, so check which text is in force when you read this.
A dental practice website, checked against the guidance
- Name, geographic address, email, telephone, a link to the GDC website and the date last updated.
- The complaints procedure, with the NHS (or equivalent) body and the Dental Complaints Service.
- Whether the practice is NHS, mixed or wholly private.
- For each dental professional named: the qualification, its country and the GDC number.
- “Specialist” only for a GDC specialist list; “Dr” qualified as a courtesy title.
- Prices given clearly, and the team page changed when someone joins or leaves.
If your practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission, showing your CQC rating on your website explains which providers the rating display duty reaches. The practice website check asks yes-or-no questions about your own site and shows the rule behind each “no”.
Common questions
Is the GDC register enough, or does the number go on the website?
The guidance asks for it on the website, for each dental professional named there as providing dental care, and in other publicity that carries their name.
Does the guidance reach our social media?
It names “marketing or social networking websites (e.g. Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Groupon, X)”. A practice that promotes its services there must make clear “that the treatment advertised may not be appropriate for every patient” and that it is “conditional on a satisfactory assessment being carried out”.
This article explains the rules in general terms and is not legal advice.
This is part of the practice-focused copywriting work on every website we look after.
References
- Guidance on advertising. General Dental Council. 2013. Available from: gdc-uk.org/
standards [cited ].-guidance/ standards -and -guidance/ gdc -guidance -for -dental -professionals/ guidance -on -advertising - Standards for the Dental Team, Principle 1: Put patients' interests first. General Dental Council. 2013. Available from: standards.gdc-uk.org/
pages/ [cited ].principle1/ principle1 .aspx - Standards for the Dental Team, Principle 2: Communicate effectively with patients. General Dental Council. 2013. Available from: standards.gdc-uk.org/
pages/ [cited ].principle2/ principle2 .aspx - Consultations: Consultation on the GDC's proposed Framework for Professionalism. General Dental Council. 2026. Available from: gdc-uk.org/
about/ [cited ].what -we -do/ consultations - Use of the term "Dr": dentists. CAP AdviceOnline. 2020. Available from: asa.org.uk/
advice [cited ].-online/ use -of -the -term -dr -dentists .html