A GDC-Compliant Dental Website? What the Rules Say

The GDC's guidance on advertising says it is "Effective from 30 September 2013". The 2013 PDF of that guidance gave "Groupon, Living Social and Facebook" as examples of marketing sites. Today's page gives "Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Groupon, X", but still shows only the 2013 date. So the text has changed since 2013, and the page does not say when.

That page also holds the GDC's list of what a practice website must show. When people search for a "GDC-compliant dental website", that list is what the GDC itself offers.

Checked against the regulators' published guidance on 1 October 2026. WebAsk is a web agency, not a law firm. This summarises published guidance; it is not legal advice.

The short answer

The GDC is "the UK regulator of dental professionals". Its guidance on advertising lists what a practice website must show: the practice's name, address, email and phone, and each named professional's qualification, its country and GDC number. It also lists the GDC's details or a link, the complaints procedure and the date the site was last updated. Its Standards for the Dental Team add duties on prices and on consent for patient photos.

The duty sits with you, not with a certificate. The guidance warns about advertising that is "false, misleading, or has the potential to mislead". It "may lead to a fitness to practise investigation and can be a criminal offence". It also says all publicity "should be legal, decent, honest and truthful". Rule 1.1 of the CAP Code, which the ASA enforces, uses the same four words. The Code covers marketing by businesses "on their own websites". If your practice offers cosmetic treatments with a prescription-only medicine, the CAP Code's ban on advertising those medicines to the public applies to your site too. Our post on the advertising rule covers it.

What the GDC says a practice website must show

The list sits in the guidance's "Websites" section, read on 29 September 2026.

Each dental professional named on the site

If you are "mentioned on a website as a dental professional providing dental care", the guidance says "you must ensure the following is displayed":

• "your professional qualification and the country from which that qualification is derived; and"
• "your GDC registration number."

As the guidance notes, "Patients can check whether you are registered". They can do it on the GDC register.

The practice itself

For the practice, the guidance says:

"If you are responsible for a dental practice website 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 and information about who patients may contact if they are not satisfied with the response (namely the relevant NHS (or equivalent) body for NHS treatment and the Dental Complaints Service for private treatment); and
• the date the website was last updated."

The Dental Complaints Service calls itself "a free and impartial service across the UK about private dental care".

Two more duties close the section:

"You must update the information showing on your website regularly, so that it accurately reflects the personnel at the practice and the service offered."

"You must also ensure that you do not display information comparing the skills or qualifications of any dental professional providing any service with the skills and qualifications of other dental professionals."

The guidance does not say where each item goes. We would put the practice details in the footer of every page, and each clinician's details on their own profile. Our reading on the date: it should change when the content changes, not each time a page loads.

NHS or private, letters after names, and social media

Other sections add three lines. The first:

"You must make clear in advertisements and other practice publicity whether the practice is NHS (or equivalent health service), mixed or wholly private."

Our reading: a practice website is practice publicity, so it should say which.

The second is for team pages:

"You must not list memberships or fellowships of professional associations, societies or honorary degrees in an abbreviated form because it may mislead patients."

The third is about "marketing or social networking websites (e.g. Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Groupon, X)". There, you must make clear that the treatment "may not be appropriate for every patient" and is "conditional on a satisfactory assessment being carried out". Our reading: that line is about those sites, not your own website.

"Specialist", and the words you may use instead

The guidance ties the word to the GDC's specialist lists:

"If you are a dentist and are on a GDC specialist list, you can use the title ‘Specialist’ or describe yourself as a ‘specialist in….’"

A dentist who is not on a list "must not use titles which may imply specialist status such as Orthodontist, Periodontist, Endodontist etc." The guidance offers three phrases instead of "specialising in":

"If you are not on a specialist list, you must not describe yourself as ‘specialising in…’ a particular form of treatment, but may use the terms ‘special interest in..’, ‘experienced in..’ or ‘practice limited to...'"

Some fields have no list. The GDC's advertising checklist asks whether you have avoided "specialist" wording for "dentists who work in an area where there is no specialist list (e.g. implantology)".

The guidance on advertising adds:

"There are no specialist lists for dental care professionals. If you are a dental care professional, you must ensure that you do not mislead patients by using titles which could imply specialist status, such as ‘Smile specialist’ or ‘Denture specialist’."

The GDC's page on specialist lists adds: "Members of the public can find a specialist by searching the GDC register." We would check each name there before the word goes on a page.

Prices and patient photos

The advertising page does not cover prices or patient photos. The GDC's Standards do. Paragraph numbers are as at 29 September 2026.

Prices on the website

Paragraph 2.4.2 reads:

"You must give clear information on prices in your practice literature and on your websites - patients should not have to ask for this information."

Paragraph 2.4.1 is about the price list in your reception or waiting area. It lets you show a price range "For items which may vary in cost". Our reading: a range suits the website too, for the same kind of item.

Consent for before-and-after photos

Paragraph 4.2.7 covers patient information "such as photographs". You must "obtain and record the patients’ consent to their use", and explain that they "can withdraw their permission at any time". Paragraph 4.2.9 adds: "You must not make any recordings or images without the patient’s permission."

The GDC's FAQ on before-and-after images says:

"Yes, you would need the patient’s consent both to the taking of the photographs and to their use in promoting your practice."

Proof that a photo is genuine

CAP's advice on before-and-after photos (5 June 2025) says "CAP and the ASA regard the use of ‘before and after’ photos in the same way as testimonials". Marketers "should hold signed and dated proof that the photos are genuine and have not been manipulated". The photos "should not exaggerate the efficacy of the product". CAP's advice does not bind the ASA.

A 2017 ASA ruling on a dental practice's press ad shows what proof can look like. The practice provided the patient's consent form, his signed statement, X-ray images of his jaw and 12 other before-and-after photos. The ASA considered that those photos indicated the one in the ad was "generally representative of what could be achieved with the treatment". It did not uphold the complaint.

Reviews: the law and Google

We found no GDC rule on reviews in its advertising and social-media guidance, checklist, Standards or the FAQs we read on 28 and 29 September 2026. We did not open its other guidance.

The law. Since 6 April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has listed review practices that are "in all circumstances considered unfair". They include submitting or commissioning "a fake consumer review" or "a consumer review that conceals the fact it has been incentivised". They also include publishing reviews "in a misleading way", such as "giving greater prominence to positive consumer reviews over negative ones".

The Act bans hiding an incentive, not every incentive. The CMA can impose a penalty of up to GBP £300,000 or 10% of turnover, including turnover outside the UK, whichever is higher (section 182).

The CAP Code. Rules 3.44 to 3.46 cover the same three points for marketing.

Google. Google's Maps content policy, read on 29 September 2026, goes further on incentives:

"We do not allow merchants to: Offer incentives – such as payment, discounts, free of cost goods and/or services – in exchange for posting any review or revision or removal of a negative review."

The same list includes "Discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers". That is a platform's policy, not the law.

Paragraph 4.2.3 of the GDC's Standards says: "You must not post any information or comments about patients on social networking or blogging sites." Our reading: a public reply to a review is such a post. We would write replies that neither confirm the reviewer is a patient nor mention their treatment.

The CQC in England: registration and ratings

The CQC is "the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England". Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own bodies.

In England, registration is the law. Under section 10 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, a person who carries on a regulated activity without being registered "is guilty of an offence".

Regulation 20A lists three things that "must be shown on every website maintained by or on behalf of" a provider. They are the CQC's website address, where on it the latest assessment can be found, and the latest rating. But it applies only "where, and to the extent that, a service provider has received a rating".

The CQC says: "we don't give ratings to primary dental providers" (updated 22 December 2025). The law leaves primary dental care out of ratings unless an independent hospital, an NHS trust or an NHS foundation trust runs it (SI 2018/54). Our reading: a primary care dental practice with no rating has nothing to display under Regulation 20A.

The CQC's "Regulated by" graphics are, in its words, "an optional additional product and are not mandatory". If you use one, "people need to be able to click on the ‘Regulated by’ graphic to link to CQC’s homepage".

Regulation 19 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009 covers fees, in a written statement to each patient who pays. Our reading: it is not a website duty. We checked only these two regulations, so we do not say the law sets no other CQC website duty.

The CMA's study of private dentistry

The Competition and Markets Authority opened a market study into private dentistry on 5 March 2026. It gave the market as "valued at £8.4 billion in 2023 to 2024", citing LaingBuisson. It said independent sources, not its own findings, "suggest average prices in the UK have increased significantly": between 2022 and 2024, initial consultations "rose by over 23% to £80", and routine check-ups for existing patients "by over 14% to £55".

The study is of the sector as a whole, so it does not follow that any one practice's website is under examination.

As at 29 September 2026, the CMA's case page was last updated on 17 July 2026, when it published an update. The update "does not set out any findings or conclusions". The CMA expects to publish its "emerging thinking" "Between October and November" 2026. It says it will publish its final report "by the statutory deadline of 4 March 2027".

The update sums up what people told the CMA, including "the importance of visibility of pricing information within the dental practice, or on the practice website". Those are views, not findings, and the CMA says they "may not be representative".

Are there CMA pricing rules for dental websites? We found none. The CMA's guide for patients (5 March 2026) says "Dentists should give clear information on their prices on their websites". Our reading: that restates paragraph 2.4.2 of the GDC's Standards. This section will date first, so check the CMA's case page for anything after 17 July 2026.

Why we will not promise a GDC-compliant website

"GDC-compliant" is a search term, not a status we could find. On 29 September 2026 we searched the GDC's website and found no scheme that approves or certifies practice websites. The guidance puts the duty on the professional: "you are responsible for checking that it is correct".

We will not use the phrase as a promise, for two more reasons.

• The rules move. The GDC's advertising page has changed without a new date. The GDC also consulted, from 2 June to 31 August 2026, on replacing the Standards with a "Framework for Professionalism". It says it will be "recommending the outcome to Council later this year".
• A badge is a claim. Rule 3.52 of the CAP Code bars claiming approval "by any public or private body if it has not". Our reading: a "GDC-approved" badge the GDC has not given would be that kind of claim.

The rules, side by side

Where to start

1. Check your site against the list. Find each item in the GDC's list. Check each clinician's qualification, its country and GDC number, and whether the practice is NHS, mixed or wholly private.
2. Search for "specialist" and "specialising", then check prices, photos and reviews. Check each name on the GDC register, the consent behind each photo and how you ask for reviews.
3. Get a second look. Our page for dental practices has more on the dental rules, and the whole-site checklist covers the rest of a practice site. The free audit includes a rules check that gives no legal verdict. Or get in touch.