Short answer
In Ontario, dental advertising, including a practice website, must not include testimonials, and must not include statements that suggest or create an expectation of favourable results. That rules out patient quotes, review feeds and star ratings on the site, and calls for great care with before-and-after photos. Federal law separately prohibits fake or undisclosed reviews. Check your own regulator if you practise outside Ontario.
What Ontario’s regulator says
The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO) lists, among the things a professional advertisement must not contain, “testimonials or any statement that can only be verified by a person’s personal feelings or views”.1 Its Advertising with Integrity summary repeats the point, listing “testimonials or unverifiable claims” under content not to include.3 The RCDSO’s practice advisory names websites as professional advertisements, so the rule applies to your site, not only to print ads.2
The same guidance prohibits statements that suggest or create an expectation of favourable results.1 The RCDSO’s July 2025 article repeats the warning against statements that create unrealistic expectations.4
Reviews, ratings and quotes on your website
Several common website features fall within the testimonial rule:
- Quotes from patients, with or without names.
- Star ratings or review counts displayed on the site.
- Embedded feeds from Google, Facebook or review platforms.
- Video interviews with patients describing their experience.
- Structured data that marks up ratings so they appear in search results.
If you practise in Ontario, remove these from your website. Patients who want to read reviews can still find them on third-party platforms. The difference is that your practice is no longer publishing them as advertising.
The Ontario Dental Association takes a related line for advertising in its own publications. Its January 2026 guidelines for advertisers in Ontario Dentist and other ODA publications say ads may not identify any dentist practising in Ontario when that identification amounts to a testimonial, and the ODA says it adheres to the RCDSO’s advertising guidelines.7
Before-and-after photos
The RCDSO guidance we reviewed does not address before-and-after photos by name. The relevant principle is the rule against creating an expectation of favourable results.1 A gallery of dramatic transformations, presented without context, can do exactly that.
If you are considering patient images, work through these questions with your regulator’s guidance and your privacy advisor:
- Is it allowed at all? Check your regulator’s current standard or ask its practice advisory service.
- Could it create an expectation of results? Images that suggest every patient will get the same outcome are a risk.
- Is the image accurate? Never edit, filter or retouch clinical photos in a way that changes the result shown.
- Do you have consent? Clinical photos usually form part of a patient’s record. Get specific, written consent for advertising use, separate from treatment consent, and let patients withdraw it.
- Is the patient identifiable? Even cropped images can identify someone. Treat consent as essential either way.
Patient photos taken during treatment are likely to be personal health information. In Ontario, the Information and Privacy Commissioner expects custodians to limit the health information they send by email and to use encryption where feasible, according to a law firm summary of its 2016 guidance.8 Handle image files with the same care in your marketing workflow, for example when sending them to a web designer.
Federal rules on reviews
The Competition Bureau warned in January 2024 that businesses can be held liable for online reviews posted by employees who do not disclose their employment relationship, even when the employee is giving an honest opinion.5 In 2022 it described fake reviews as part of organized efforts by some companies to boost their own ratings or lower competitors’, sometimes by offering customers incentives or hiring firms to write reviews.6
For a dental practice, that means no staff reviews without disclosure, no paid or incentivized reviews and no reviews written by anyone other than real patients.
Safer ways to build trust
A website without testimonials can still be persuasive. These approaches fit the Ontario rules:
- Real people, real facts. Photos and short bios of your dentists and team, with accurate registration categories and the languages they speak.
- Clear process. Step-by-step explanations of what happens at a first visit, a cleaning or a consultation.
- Plain answers. An honest FAQ about cost, insurance, direct billing, sedation options and accessibility.
- Your space. Photos of your treatment rooms, waiting area and entrance, so patients know what to expect.
- Transparent policies. Privacy, accessibility and cancellation policies that are easy to find.
These are the trust signals the Dentoryxa home page describes.
If your current site has reviews or galleries
Change it carefully, with a plan. List every page with testimonials, ratings, galleries or ratings markup. Decide with the dentist responsible for advertising what to remove or change. Then update the pages together and keep a record of the change. A redesign with a compliance read can handle this as part of a larger refresh.
Wording that replaces testimonials
Removing testimonials leaves gaps on a page that was built around them. These replacements keep the page useful.
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| A carousel of patient quotes on the home page | A short “What to expect at your first visit” section in three steps |
| “Patients love our gentle care” | A plain description of comfort options you offer, such as how appointments are paced |
| A star rating badge in the header | Your registration details, languages spoken and accessibility information |
| Video interviews with patients | A short video tour of the practice, or the dentist explaining a treatment process |
| A before-and-after gallery with no context | A page explaining how a treatment is planned and what the steps involve |
Each replacement gives patients facts they can rely on.
Review platforms outside your website
Patients will continue to post reviews on Google and other platforms. Those platforms are outside your website, but your behaviour on them still matters. Reply professionally, never disclose patient information in a reply, and never confirm that the reviewer is a patient. Avoid incentives for reviews, and make sure staff understand the Competition Bureau’s position on undisclosed employee reviews.5
Frequently asked questions
Can I embed my Google reviews on my website?
In Ontario, a reviews feed on your own website would bring testimonials into your advertising, which the RCDSO prohibits. Patients can still find reviews on Google themselves. If you practise elsewhere, check your own regulator’s rules before adding any feed.
Can I ask happy patients to leave Google reviews?
Asking is a separate question from publishing reviews on your site, and your regulator’s rules on incentives and solicitation may apply. Never offer anything in exchange for a review, and make sure staff never review the practice without disclosing their connection.
Can I show smile photos of models instead of patients?
You can use licensed images to illustrate a page, but do not present them as your patients or your results. A caption such as “model image” avoids implying a result your practice produced.
Sources
- RCDSO: Advertising Guidelines Regulator
- RCDSO: Practice Advisory, Professional Advertising (November 2012) Regulator
- RCDSO: Advertising with Integrity Regulator
- RCDSO: The dos and don’ts of advertising (28 July 2025) Regulator
- Competition Bureau Canada: Online reviews posted by employees, businesses could be liable (18 January 2024) Government
- Competition Bureau Canada: Five-star fake out (2 March 2022) Government
- Ontario Dental Association: Advertising Guidelines (January 2026) Professional association
- BLG: IPC releases guidance on communicating PHI by email (15 September 2016) Secondary source (law firm summary of IPC Ontario guidance)
Checked on 29 October 2026. Rules change, so confirm the current version with the regulator before you publish.
