Websites for dental clinics

People choose a dentist in two moods. One has a cracked tooth and wants an appointment today. The other has put off a check-up for two years and is quietly dreading it. A good site speaks to both without changing tone: the phone number and the next free time sit near the top, and the rest of the page explains, calmly, what a visit involves.

Trust here is built from small, checkable things. The dentists are named, with their registration. Fees for a standard check-up are on the page, along with how health funds are handled. The team and the rooms are photographed as they really are. Nothing on the page praises the care itself, because the rules on health advertising mostly forbid it, and plain facts do the job anyway.

What the site carries

• The dentists named on the home page, each with their qualifications and registration details.
• A booking button and a phone number on every screen, with a note on what to do for a broken tooth or swelling.
• The fee for a standard check-up and clean, with a clear line on what is and isn't included.
• How health fund claiming works at the front desk, and which funds you accept on the spot.
• A page for each treatment people search by name: check-ups, fillings, crowns, wisdom teeth, dentures and whitening.
• A plain account of what happens at a first visit, from the form at the desk to the chair.
• The street address, parking, step-free access and opening hours near the top of the page.
• Child and family visits kept on their own page, with a line on how you introduce young kids to the chair.
• A line on who to call after hours, and what you can and can't see on the same day.
• Photos of your actual rooms and team, so a nervous patient knows who they are walking in to meet.

The work your customers look for

• check-ups and cleans
• fillings
• crowns and bridges
• root canal treatment
• wisdom tooth removal
• dentures
• teeth whitening
• children's dentistry
• emergency toothache
• mouthguards
• dental implants

What they type

• "dentist near me"
• "emergency dentist"
• "dentist"
• "child dentist"
• "wisdom tooth removal"
• "dental check-up and clean cost"
• "dentist that bulk bills child dental benefits"

The National Law's section 133, enforced through AHPRA, bars testimonials about clinical care, so patient reviews of treatment stay off the site.

Claims on a dental site must not be misleading, which rules out guarantees of results and comparisons that call you the best.

Use the title specialist only for a dentist who holds that registration, because AHPRA treats an unearned title as a breach.

A fee or offer on the page has to be one you will honour, since Australian Consumer Law treats it as a representation.

Rules change. Have your licence and wording checked against your regulator before the site goes live.

• Patient reviews quoted on the site as if they described the clinical care.
• The word specialist next to a dentist who hasn't got that registration.
• A promise of a painless visit, which no one can guarantee.
• A home page with twenty buttons and no one obvious next step.
• Stock photos of perfect smiles in place of the people who will treat the patient.