AHPRA advertising rules for Australian dental practices: a plain-English guide

If you own or manage an Australian dental practice, you are the advertiser. Not your web designer, not your marketing agency — you. Ahpra says it plainly: advertisers are responsible for their advertising, so they need to check any content produced by others on their behalf. This page is the plain-English version of what you are responsible for, with every rule traced back to Ahpra or the National Law rather than to another agency blog post.

The five things section 133 prohibits

Everything else in this guide is detail hanging off one section. Section 133 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law says a person must not advertise a regulated health service, or a business that provides one, in a way that:

• is false, misleading or deceptive, or is likely to be misleading or deceptive
• offers a gift, discount or other inducement to attract a person to use the service, unless the advertisement also states the terms and conditions of the offer
• uses testimonials or purported testimonials about the service or business
• creates an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment, or
• directly or indirectly encourages the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of regulated health services.

Read those five again with your homepage open. Most Australian dental websites trip at least one of them, and almost always at the third or fourth.

What counts as advertising

Broader than most practices assume. Ahpra defines advertising as including, but not limited to, all forms of verbal, printed or electronic public communication that promotes a regulated health service provider to attract a person to that provider.

In practice, for a dental clinic, that means: your website, every service page, your Google Business Profile, your Facebook and Instagram pages, your booking page, printed flyers, waiting-room signage, radio, the sign in your window, and the copy inside a paid ad. If it exists to bring patients in, it is advertising.

What the penalties actually are

You will see $5,000 quoted on Australian legal and marketing pages. That figure is out of date. The National Law was amended in 2022 and the maximum financial penalty for an advertising offence increased from $5,000 to $60,000 per offence for an individual, and from $10,000 to $120,000 per offence for a body corporate. As of July 2024 the increased penalties apply in every jurisdiction, including Western Australia.

Money is not the only consequence, and usually not the first. A National Board may decide an advertising breach raises a concern about a practitioner’s conduct and take separate action, which can include placing conditions on their registration.

The date confusion, cleared up

A lot of Australian dental marketing content published since late 2025 refers to “AHPRA’s new advertising rules” taking effect on 2 September 2025. That is a conflation of two different documents, and it matters if you are trying to work out whether your site needs a rewrite.

The requirements, one at a time

Accuracy and evidence

Information must be clear, honest, accurate and easily understood, and include all important details. Any claim you make has to be supported by acceptable evidence. If you list conditions you treat and claim to “treat” or “help” them, the advertising should also make clear how the treatment helps each condition listed.

Risks

Advertising should give accurate information about the risks or potential risks of a treatment or procedure. Omitting them can both mislead and create an unreasonable expectation of benefit. This is the requirement most cosmetic-dentistry pages ignore entirely.

Pricing

If you publish prices, they must be clear, easily understood, accurate, honest, and include the total price — not just an initial cost or the price of the first consultation. “Implants from $X” with the abutment, crown and imaging excluded is exactly the pattern this is aimed at.

Gifts, discounts and inducements

Not banned outright — but an offer must state or refer to its terms and conditions, and those terms must be clear, easily understood, accurate, honest and easy to find. A “free whitening with your new-patient exam” banner with no terms anywhere on the page is a breach on its face.

Testimonials

The one most practices get wrong, and it has its own guide because the detail matters: a testimonial is a recommendation or positive statement about the clinical aspects of care. Comments about customer service or communication style are not testimonials and may be used. See Can you put Google reviews on your dental website? for where the line falls and who is responsible for what.

Titles

“Specialist” and the recognised dental specialties are protected. A general dentist with a genuine interest in orthodontics cannot advertise as “specialising in orthodontics”. Separately: “doctor” and “Dr” are not protected titles, but if a non-medical practitioner uses the title in advertising it should state their profession — Ahpra’s own example is “Dr Jones (dentist)”.

Urgency and scarcity

Ahpra names the pattern and the phrases. Time-limited offers may directly or indirectly encourage unnecessary use of health services, and words such as “don’t delay”, “act now before it’s too late”, “don’t miss out”, “time is running out” or “for a limited time only” create a sense of urgency that may be unlawful where it is linked to unsubstantiated claims that a person’s health may suffer if they do not act.

Images and before-and-after photos

Not banned, but conditional, and the conditions are strict enough that most practices are better off without them. Advertising may breach the National Law if it is not clear how the advertised treatment caused the benefit shown, or if the images are not genuine, edited or enhanced. Covered in full in Before-and-after photos in dental advertising.

Recommending regular check-ups

A subtle one. Advertising should not encourage people to use a service where there is no clinical or therapeutic need — including encouraging attendance for regular treatment where there is no clinical need or acceptable evidence supporting that interval.

The other laws that also apply

Section 133 is not the only exposure. Advertisers must also comply with other applicable legislation:

• Australian Consumer Law — the prohibition on misleading or deceptive conduct applies to your advertising independently of the National Law, and is enforced by the ACCC.
• Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 — prescription-only (Schedule 4) substances cannot be advertised to the public by brand name. This is why an anti-wrinkle page cannot name the product.
• Spam Act 2003 — commercial electronic messages need consent, sender identification and a working unsubscribe. Relevant the moment you send SMS or email marketing.
• Privacy Act 1988 — how you collect and hold enquiry data, including through a website form or chatbot.

A 10-minute self-audit

1. 1

   Search your own site for superlatives

   Look for “best”, “leading”, “number one”, “#1”, “world-class”, “cheapest”. Each one is a comparison you would need acceptable evidence to support.

2. 2

   Search for outcome promises

   “Guaranteed”, “painless”, “pain-free”, “risk-free”, “permanent”, “perfect smile”. These create an expectation the treatment cannot reliably deliver.

3. 3

   Open every page that shows reviews

   Read each review you publish. If it mentions a symptom, a diagnosis, a treatment, an outcome, or the practitioner’s skill, it is a testimonial and cannot be in your advertising.

4. 4

   Check your social media review settings

   A clinic Facebook page with reviews enabled is advertising you control. If you cannot moderate it, Ahpra’s stated option is to disable the reviews function.

5. 5

   Check every price for totality

   Does the number shown include everything the patient will actually pay for that treatment? If not, it needs to.

6. 6

   Check every offer for terms

   Any gift, discount or bonus must state or refer to its terms and conditions, and they must be easy to find.

7. 7

   Check titles against the register

   Anyone described as a specialist must hold specialist registration in that field. Confirm on the Ahpra register, not from memory.

8. 8

   Read your cosmetic pages for risk information

   Veneers, implants and orthodontics pages should state risks or potential risks. Most do not.

Ahpra also publishes its own advertising self-assessment tool, which is worth working through once a year.

Is my marketing agency liable if they wrote the copy?

The advertiser is whoever controls the advertising, and Ahpra is explicit that advertisers are responsible for content produced by others on their behalf — including a third party, a staff member or a marketing agency. Depending on the practice structure, the principal practitioner, practice owner or director may be responsible for the practice’s advertising. A contract with an agency does not move the obligation.

Do the rules apply to my Instagram and Facebook pages?

Yes. If the page is used to promote a regulated health service it is advertising and must not include testimonials or purported testimonials. Ahpra notes that not all platforms allow reviews to be edited or removed, but the person who controls the page is still responsible — which may mean disabling the reviews function.

What happens if someone complains about my advertising?

Ahpra assesses advertising complaints and, in most cases, works with the advertiser to correct the advertising first. Prosecution is available but is not the usual first step, and Ahpra publishes its compliance and enforcement strategy setting out how it prioritises. The bigger practical risk for most practices is a National Board treating the breach as a conduct concern.

Does this apply to a practice that is not currently taking new patients?

The requirements attach to advertising a regulated health service, not to whether you have capacity. A live website promoting your practice is advertising regardless of your books.