RCDSO Advertising Rules for Dental Websites (2026 Guide)

Every Ontario dentist knows the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO) has advertising rules. Fewer know what those rules mean for a website, line by line. This guide walks through the College's own documents in plain English, with links, so you can check your site against the source itself.

This is general information, not legal advice. You, the dentist, are responsible for what your website says. If you're unsure about a page, ask the RCDSO or a lawyer before you publish it.

Your website counts as advertising

The RCDSO's Professional Advertising practice advisory defines a professional advertisement as any material related to your practice that is published, displayed, distributed or used, by you or by someone on your behalf. Websites are on its list, next to flyers, signage, newsletters and business cards.

The advisory is dated November 2012. As of October 2026 it's still the document the RCDSO's Advertising Guidelines page links to. The College's Professional Use of Social Media advisory is even more direct. “Websites are a form of professional advertisement,” it says, and some social media may count as advertising too.

The dentist is responsible, even when someone else writes it

The College's July 2025 article The dos and don'ts of advertising puts it plainly. “Dentists are responsible for all advertisements involving them and their clinic(s).” That includes content written by your staff or by a third party acting for you, such as a web designer or a marketing agency.

The advisory asks you to personally control all printed and electronic material about your practice. The 2025 article suggests asking staff to get your approval before they post about the clinic, and sharing the practice advisory with anyone you hire to make your ads. Associates have a part too. They're expected to tell the principal dentist when they see inaccurate advertising.

What the advisory tells you to leave out

The advisory lists content the College would consider a breach of the advertising regulation. In plain words, your website should not include the following.

• Statements that are unclear, untrue or misleading.
• Claims that your clinic is better than others, or unique.
• Statements that suggest good results or play on people's fears.
• Testimonials, or “any statement that can only be verified by a person's personal feelings or views.”
• Incentive programs, including giveaways, contests, draws or free products or services.
• Your continuing education, or memberships and positions in the College, societies, associations or academies.
• Degrees or diplomas beyond the ones you needed to register with the College.
• Superlatives such as “state of the art” or “cutting edge”, or any wording that suggests higher quality services, equipment, products or people.

The College's one-page Advertising with Integrity sheet adds comparisons with other dentists or services. It also suggests four questions to ask before you publish. Is the message clear and truthful? Could it look misleading or exaggerated? Would your peers see it as professional? Does it help the public make an informed choice?

Common website phrases and plainer versions

Most problems on clinic websites come from a handful of familiar phrases. Here is how each one lines up with the rules as I read them, and what you could write instead.

Testimonials, reviews and star ratings

Testimonials are on the advisory's list. The professional misconduct regulation it quotes also covers information that “can only be verified by a person's personal feelings, beliefs, opinions or interpretations.” A 2017 RCDSO discipline summary lists, among other findings, testimonials on a dentist's website “that are not verifiable by facts”.

Patient reviews and star ratings are personal views by nature. That's why the RCDSO's advertising guidance, as widely summarised, is read as ruling out review widgets, Google rating badges and quoted patient comments on a clinic website. If your site has any of these, I'd take them down.

Say whether you're a general dentist or a specialist

If a page mentions an area of dental practice, a procedure or a treatment, the advisory says you must disclose whether you're registered as a general practitioner or a specialist, and if a specialist, in which specialty. On a clinic website, that covers almost every service page.

The RCDSO's article on qualifications, titles and designations adds detail. Only dentists with a specialist certificate can call themselves specialists. A general dentist can't describe an area of treatment as if it were a specialty, and the article gives “cosmetic dentist”, “implant specialist” and “holistic dentist” as examples. A general dentist who limits their practice to one area still has to say they're a general practitioner.

The simple fix is one line on each service page, such as “Dr. Lee is a general dentist.” Use the same wording in team bios, and list only the degrees required for registration.

If you list prices, list them in full

The advisory says nothing stops you from advertising a fee. If you do, the fee must be clearly stated. Unless you say otherwise, it's treated as the maximum fee, including all services and lab costs. It also applies to every patient, whether or not they saw the ad and whether or not they have insurance.

So a line like “Implants from $X” needs care. If you publish a number, make sure it's what every patient will pay, and say what it includes.

Patient photos need written consent

Before-and-after galleries are common on clinic sites. The RCDSO's Winter 2024 newsletter explains that a patient's image is personal health information. It needs the same consent and confidentiality safeguards as the rest of the record.

The College's steps include explaining every way an image may be used, getting consent in advance, and confirming it in writing after the patient has seen and approved the image. Consent is needed even when the patient can't be identified. Patients can withdraw consent, and then the images must come down from every place they're used.

Consent for one use doesn't cover another. The RCDSO's social media guidance describes a patient who agreed to photos on the dentist's website, and a dentist who later shared those photos in reply to the patient's negative review. The College treats that as a privacy problem. The advertising rules also bar content that creates an expectation of favourable results, so I'd ask the College before publishing a before-and-after gallery.

Check your site in an afternoon

You can review most clinic websites in one sitting. Open each page and look for these.

• Words like best, #1, top, leading, state of the art, cutting edge, painless and guaranteed.
• Anything free, discounted or tied to a contest or draw.
• Testimonials, review widgets, star ratings or patient quotes.
• Service pages that don't say whether the dentist is a general dentist or a specialist.
• Bios that list courses, academy memberships or extra degrees.
• Prices that leave out lab fees or only apply to some patients.
• Patient photos without signed consent on file.
• Old landing pages and blog posts you forgot about. They're still on your site.

Run the same check on your Google Business Profile description and your social media, since the College says some social media may count as advertising too.

You can ask the College before you publish

The advisory says the College will offer advice about any proposed advertisement. The Advertising with Integrity sheet lists practiceadvisory@rcdso.org for questions. If a page makes you hesitate, send it to them. Theirs is the answer that counts.

What I'd do

Treat every page as an ad you've signed. Keep claims to facts a patient can check, put the general dentist or specialist line on service pages, and remove anything that relies on patient opinion. If you're hiring someone, share the advisory with them on day one, as the College suggests. My 12 questions to ask a dental web designer cover this too.

Control matters as well. On Lord Dufferin Dental Centre's new site, staff edit copy, images, FAQs and team profiles in a content editor, so the clinic can change a line without waiting on a developer. You can see how I approach dental website design for GTA clinics, or run your current site through the dental website checklist first.