The avenues for promoting your dental practice have widened somewhat in recent years, and whilst word-of-mouth referrals remain a common source of patients, rapidly advancing digital technologies have opened new avenues for communication with patients both old and new.

When using digital technology to promote a practice many registrants rely on advice provided by individuals or organisations involved in business promotion, often in combination with non-registrant members of the dental team. The people providing advice might not be aware of the restrictions surrounding current guidance and compliance with data protection, confidentiality and the code of practice as published by the Committee of Advertising Practice.

There is therefore a need for the practice owner to carefully oversee, and take responsibility for, any such promotional or patient communication in advance of information being released.

There has been a general increase in the use of treatment coordinators, who may themselves be non-registrants. When explaining the treatment available at a particular practice, it is possible that a treatment coordinator may inadvertently provide inappropriate clinical advice or misleading information.

It may be preferable that patient enquiries are dealt with by an appropriately trained and experienced staff member and that any clinical advice is given directly to the patient by either the registrant who will be providing the patient's treatment or the person who is responsible for the treatment plan.

This enables clear communication of the treatment goals, risks, benefits, possible complications and costs involved at the outset with the intention of avoiding any misunderstanding.

Ethical marketing

Information provided to registrants at ethical marketing courses can often focus on maximising income and encourage registrants to promote the more profitable areas of their practice. Following this advice without careful planning could lead to someone over promising and under delivering.

It would be much better to offer treatment that can be provided with confidence of a positive outcome and to prepare the patient with realistic expectations.

Practicalities of promotion

When it comes to promoting your practice, social media platforms and digital marketing tools are arguably essential given the ease with which other practices can also advertise and compete for a share of the market.

However, while practices can benefit from this fast, inexpensive form of communication, taking too casual an approach to using social media has the potential to harm a dentist-patient relationship - by a misunderstanding, or through an inadvertent breach of confidentiality.

Images

The simplest way of demonstrating your work is with photographs, but it's important to remember that these still form part of a patient's clinical records. Although you might think it unlikely they would recognise clinical photographs showing only their teeth, you must still get the patient's consent for their use in marketing material, and this consent must be specific for the marketing you plan to use.

Patients also need to understand precisely how their information will be used, and that they can withdraw their consent at any time. This requires that the practice keeps control of the information, but the ability to share posts on social media mean this can be difficult for dental professionals to monitor, or withdraw if required.

Aesthetic treatments/POMs

It is tempting to apply the same 'before and after' photographs to all aesthetic procedures you introduce to your practice, such as injectable facial aesthetic treatments. However, the use of before and after photographs for these procedures is likely to be interpreted by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) as an efficacy claim, which is not permitted and should be avoided in any marketing.

Also remember that prescription-only medicines (POMs) cannot be advertised to the public; this includes botulinium toxin (ASA rule 12.12). However, if you offer POMs as well as other injected treatments, they suggest you may advertise using terms such as 'cosmetic fillers' or 'injected fillers'.

Accuracy of information

When advertising or promoting a practice, compliance with the GDC's Guidance on Advertising is essential. Central to this guidance are the requirements to avoid any offer or claim which could be seen as misleading and to put the interests of patients above your own or your business.

In general, the GDC disapproves of the use of superlatives or grandiose statements to describe the services offered. You cannot use the words 'specialist', 'specialises' or 'specialising' when referring to yourself or your practice unless you, and any other dentists in the practice, are on a GDC specialist list, and then only in relation to the particular specialist list(s) on which their name(s) are entered.

'Dr' title

Particular care is needed when referring to yourself as providing injectable aesthetic treatments. Since 1995 the GDC has allowed dentists to use the title 'Dr' provided it is made clear that this is a courtesy title only and it is not otherwise implied they are qualified to carry out medical procedures.

The ASA does advise that care is taken not to imply a general medical qualification is held if it is not. They suggest the safest and simplest way to avoid confusing consumers is that if advertisers don't possess a general medical qualification, they should not call themselves 'Dr'.

Sweetening the deal

Although the GDC allows dental professionals to offer practice promotions, discount vouchers have drawn critical attention from the GDC, and the DDU has in the past advised members about this type of promotional activity.

In general, the GDC would not disapprove of incentives, provided the conditions attached to them are absolutely clear, none of the content is potentially misleading, and any offer made is honoured in full.