Dental Clinic Social Media: What to Post and What to Avoid
Post ideas for dental practices, plus the patient-privacy, testimonial and advertising rules in the US, UK and Australia that a caption can break.
A dental practice has an easy social media job and an unusually risky one. The easy part: people want to know who you are, what a first visit is like and when you are open. The risky part: one reply to a review or one smile photo can breach patient privacy or advertising rules.
This guide gives you a month of post ideas that are safe by design, and a privacy and claims check to run before any post goes out. The rules differ by country, so it covers the US, the UK and Australia. It is general information, not legal advice. Check with your regulator, board or lawyer.
What patients want to see
Most of the content that works for a practice is about reducing the fear of walking in. These are practitioner-consensus ideas rather than measured results for dental accounts, so test them against your own numbers.
- Meet the team. Each clinician with their name, role and one non-clinical fact (the book on their desk, the thing they like about the job).
- What happens at your first visit. Walk from front door to chair: reception, forms, the scan, the chat, what it costs to ask.
- Reception and waiting room tour. Accessible entrance, children's corner, where to park.
- Kids' visits. A calm tour from the child's eye level. No children's faces without written consent from a parent.
- Technology, explained. The intraoral scanner screen with no patient data visible, or how x-ray safety works in plain words.
- Myth and fact. Short, sourced answers: does whitening harm teeth, is fluoride safe. Link to a health authority page instead of making your own claim.
- Hours and emergencies. A pinned post with real emergency hours and the route to book.
- Sterilisation room. Reassurance. Show the process, not a patient.
Patient privacy comes first
In the United States, a dental practice is usually a HIPAA covered entity. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has settled two dental cases that started with replies to online reviews.
- Elite Dental Associates (Dallas), October 2019: a $10,000 settlement and a two-year corrective action plan for revealing patient information in replies to Yelp reviews.
- New Vision Dental (California), December 2022: a $23,000 settlement and a corrective action plan for the same kind of disclosure (HHS announcement).
The lesson: a patient posting a review does not let you reply with health details, and replying "We are sorry your filling hurt" confirms they are a patient. Use a neutral reply that does not confirm a relationship, and take the detail offline. Using patient photos, stories or videos in marketing needs the patient's written authorisation. Ask your compliance adviser which form to use. The exact legal citation for that is something to confirm with a lawyer rather than copy from a blog.
Neutral review reply (adapt, then have your adviser check it)
Does not confirm that the reviewer is a patient and does not mention treatment.
- Reply
- Thank you for taking the time to write. We take all feedback seriously and want to hear more. Please call us on [number] or email [address] so the practice manager can look into this properly.
In the UK, the General Dental Council expects publicity to be "legal, decent, honest and truthful" and says patient photos or testimonials need specific, informed consent (GDC advertising guidance, 2013.pdf)). That PDF is the version widely cited, and the GDC may have updated its guidance since. Check its site for the current version.
Testimonials, smile photos and results
This is where countries differ most, so decide which rules apply to your practice before you write a post.
| Question | United States | United Kingdom | Australia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patient testimonials on your page | FTC rules apply: they must be real, not incentivised on sentiment, and reposting makes a review a testimonial. State board rules may add limits. | Allowed with consent and honest use. GDC expects specific consent. Fake or hidden-incentive reviews are banned since 6 April 2025. | Banned in advertising a regulated health service, including your own Facebook page. Clinical comments count. |
| Before-and-after smile photos | Need written authorisation. Must be genuine and not imply typical results where they are not. | Must be genuine and used with permission, with evidence for claims. | Real images only, no misleading editing, with a "results may vary" warning for cosmetic procedures from 2 September 2025. |
| Targeting under-18s | Follow platform and state rules. | No under-18 targeting of cosmetic intervention ads. | No advertising of cosmetic procedures aimed at under-18s. |
On Australia: the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) says comments about clinical aspects such as symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, outcome or skill count as testimonials, and comments about customer service do not. If you cannot remove reviews on a platform, it advises disabling the reviews function (Ahpra testimonial tool, page reviewed in 2021). A proposal to lift the ban was dropped in 2022. Its non-surgical cosmetic guidelines took effect on 2 September 2025 and cover veneers among other procedures (Ahpra announcement).
In the US, the American Dental Association's 2025 code updates added an advisory opinion on social media: no unsubstantiated claims, and influencers must disclose paid partnerships. The ADA also says paying an influencer a percentage of patient fees is fee splitting, and that implying a specialty you do not hold is misleading (ADA News, 24 February 2025). State boards add their own rules.
A privacy and claims check for every post
Before a dental post goes live
- No patient name, face, voice, chart, screen or appointment details are visible, including in the background and in reflections.
- Any patient photo, story or video has written authorisation that covers this use and this channel.
- No claim of "best", "safest", "painless" or "guaranteed" without evidence you could show a regulator.
- No specialty or credential is implied that the clinician does not hold.
- Any before-and-after is real, unfiltered, with consent, and where required carries a "results may vary" line.
- Review replies do not confirm a patient relationship or mention treatment.
- If a referral partner or influencer is involved, the paid relationship is disclosed and the fee is not a percentage of patient fees.
- Prices, hours and emergency numbers match your booking system today.
- Someone other than the writer has approved this exact version.
A month of safe post ideas, with dates that exist
Pick the observances that match where you practise and label them as what they are.
| When | Observance | Organiser | Post idea |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | National Children's Dental Health Month (US) | American Dental Association | A kids' first-visit tour with parent consent |
| 20 March | World Oral Health Day | FDI World Dental Federation | Myth and fact: three questions you hear every week |
| 11 May to 11 June 2026 (dates change yearly) | National Smile Month (UK) | Oral Health Foundation | Meet the hygienist and the one tip they repeat |
| October | National Dental Hygiene Month (US) | ADHA (secondary source, check) | A brushing demo on a model |
| November | Mouth Cancer Action Month (UK) | Oral Health Foundation | What a mouth check involves, and how to book one |
Check the organisers for this year's dates and themes: ADA children's dental health month, FDI World Oral Health Day, National Smile Month and Mouth Cancer Action Month. In November, Mouth Cancer Action Month is the natural hook in the UK. For holiday weeks, post your closure dates and emergency route early.
A 30-minute shot list
Exterior and entrance
Signage, step-free access, opening hours on the door.
Reception and waiting room
Empty, tidy, with the kids' corner. Check the screen behind the desk is off or blank.
Each clinician
Name and role card in hand, relaxed, one sentence each. Get their agreement to be on your feed.
Technology
The scanner display with a model, not a patient.
Sterilisation
Hands and equipment only, no names on trays or labels.
A "what to expect" voiceover
Record it afterward over the footage so you can check every claim.
Keep the files in one folder, named by what is in them. A tool that drafts posts from your own photos, as KeepsPosted does, still depends on you knowing which images are safe to use. Mark any that are not before they get near a draft.
Mistakes that cause real trouble
- Replying to a review with treatment details, or thanking someone by name for a procedure.
- "Best dentist in town" and similar superlatives with no evidence.
- Calling a general dentist an "implant specialist".
- Posting smile photos without written consent.
- Reposting five-star clinical reviews on an Australian page.
- Posting a price-led injectables offer in the UK or Australia.
- Leaving a patient name or chart visible on a monitor behind the clinician.
Common questions
Can a dental practice use patient reviews on its Instagram?
It depends on where you practise. In Australia, clinical testimonials in advertising are banned, including on your own pages. In the US and UK, they must be real, consented to and not incentivised on sentiment. Reposting a review on your own account makes it a testimonial under the FTC rule.
Is it safe to use AI to draft dental captions?
It can save time if a person checks every claim. Do not let a draft invent credentials, results or patient stories, and do not publish before someone has approved the exact version. See our AI captions and disclosure guide.
Sources
- HHS: settlement with New Vision Dental (14 Dec 2022) (checked 10 Nov 2026)
- Thomson Reuters: Elite Dental Associates $10,000 HIPAA settlement (checked 10 Nov 2026)
- ADA News: code updates on social media influencers (24 Feb 2025) (checked 10 Nov 2026)
- GDC: Guidance on advertising (Sept 2013) (checked 10 Nov 2026)
- Ahpra: testimonial tool (checked 10 Nov 2026)
- Ahpra: new guidelines for cosmetic procedures (2 Sept 2025) (checked 10 Nov 2026)
- FTC: Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, questions and answers (checked 10 Nov 2026)
- ASA: Botox enforcement notice for social media (checked 10 Nov 2026)
- ADA: National Children's Dental Health Month (checked 10 Nov 2026)
- FDI: World Oral Health Day (checked 10 Nov 2026)
- Oral Health Foundation: National Smile Month (checked 10 Nov 2026)
- Oral Health Foundation: Mouth Cancer Action Month (checked 10 Nov 2026)
Written by the KeepsPosted editorial team from regulator and professional-body pages listed above, with AI assistance for drafting and a person reviewing every claim. Post ideas are practitioner consensus, not measured results. This is general information, not legal advice.
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