What a Dental Practice Website Needs

The rules quoted here come from primary sources: the American Dental Association's Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct (full code, PDF, advisory opinions revised to October 2025), CMS's guidance on good faith estimates for providers, Google's Guidelines for representing your business on Google and the schema.org Dentist type, all checked on 13 November 2026. The rest is our view from building websites for service businesses. This is not legal or compliance advice: check your state dental board's rules before you publish.

The short answer

A dental practice website needs a page for each main treatment, a new-patient page, plain information on insurance and payment, a way to book or request an appointment, a page for each dentist with credentials stated accurately, real reviews, contact details that match your Google Business Profile, and forms that ask for as little health information as possible. Every claim on it has to be true, because the ADA's code applies to websites just as it does to any other advertising.

Treatment pages

Give each main treatment its own page: check-ups and cleaning, fillings, crowns, implants, root canal treatment, whitening, orthodontics, children's dentistry, emergency appointments. Each page should say what the treatment is for, what happens at the appointment, how many visits it usually takes and how to book it. Write for a nervous patient, and use your own photos rather than stock smiles.

On the emergency page, put the phone number at the top and say what to do out of hours.

The advertising rules

The ADA code speaks directly to websites. Advisory opinion 5.F.6 says dentists "have an ethical obligation to ensure that their web sites, like their other professional announcements, are truthful and do not present information in a manner that is false and misleading in a material respect", and that any SEO techniques should comport with the code.

Opinion 5.F.2 lists statements to avoid, including ones that would "be intended or be likely to create an unjustified expectation about results the dentist can achieve" or claim "that the advertised services are superior in quality to those of other dentists, if that representation is not subject to reasonable substantiation." On a website that rules out "the best dentist in town", painless guarantees and before-and-after photos that are not typical of your results.

The word "specialist" has its own rule. Section 5.H lets a dentist announce as a specialist in a recognised specialty only if they meet the educational requirements, and says those who choose to "should use “specialist in”". It also says "The burden of responsibility is on specialists to avoid any inference that general practitioners who are associated with specialists are qualified to announce themselves as specialists." Our view: a general practice that offers implants or orthodontics should say so without calling itself a specialist, unless a dentist there meets that rule.

New-patient information

A single new-patient page saves your front desk a lot of phone calls. Cover what to bring (ID, insurance card, a list of medicines), what happens at the first visit, how long it takes, parking and your cancellation policy. If patients fill in a medical history form before the visit, explain how they will receive it and how you protect it (see patient privacy below).

Insurance, payment and estimates

List the insurance plans you are in network with, and say clearly if you are out of network with a plan people often ask about. Explain payment options and any membership plan in plain words, with what each one includes. Keep the list current.

Uninsured and self-pay patients have a federal right to a good faith estimate. CMS's guidance says information about the availability of good faith estimates "must be written in a clear and understandable manner", and "prominently displayed (and easily searchable from a public search engine) on the convening provider’s or convening facility’s website, in the office, and on-site where scheduling or questions about the cost of items or services occur." CMS publishes a model notice you can use. Our view: put it on the insurance and payment page and link to it from the footer, so it is easy to find from any page.

Online booking

Link to your practice software's booking page, embed a booking tool, or offer a request form the front desk confirms by phone. Whatever you use, show the same Book button on every page and on your Google Business Profile. Our guide to online booking for service businesses covers the options, reminders, deposits and calendar sync.

Dentist and team pages

Give each dentist and hygienist a page with a real photo, their role, the treatments they do and their qualifications as they actually hold them. The ADA code says a dentist "may use the title Doctor or Dentist, D.D.S., D.M.D. or any additional earned, advanced academic degrees in health service areas", and warns that fellowships "that designate association, rather than attainment, should be limited to scientific papers and curriculum vitae."

Reviews

Use only real reviews, with permission for any you quote on the site, and never pay or reward people for them. Our guide to reviews and testimonials on websites covers what you may show, and Google Business Profile reviews covers asking for reviews and replying on Google. Our view: when you reply to a review, never confirm that the writer is a patient or mention any treatment, even if they did.

Local search

Use exactly the same practice name, address and phone number on the website as on your Google Business Profile. Google treats dentists as individual practitioners: its guidelines say "Doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial planners, and insurance or real estate agents are all individual practitioners", and that where several practitioners work at one location, "The organization should create a Business Profile for this location, separate from that of the practitioner." Our Google Business Profile guide covers setup.

On the website, add LocalBusiness structured data using the most specific type, Dentist, which schema.org lists under both LocalBusiness and MedicalBusiness. Our local business schema guide shows how.

Patient privacy on forms

Dental practices handle health information, so the website needs more care than most. HIPAA questions, such as which forms, email and tracking tools you may use, belong with your HIPAA compliance adviser and HHS's own guidance; we do not summarise HIPAA here. Our view on the website side:

• The public contact form asks only for name, contact details and the reason for the visit in a few words, with a note not to include medical history.
• Medical history and insurance details go through your practice software's patient portal or forms tool, not a general website form or email.
• Before you add any booking, form, chat or analytics tool to appointment and form pages, ask the vendor and your adviser whether it handles health information and what agreement it needs.
• A privacy policy that matches what the site actually collects. Our website privacy basics covers privacy notices and cookies.

Accessibility

Use readable text sizes, strong contrast, real text instead of text in images, labelled form fields and booking that works with a keyboard. Our guide to website accessibility basics covers WCAG and how to check your site.

A short checklist (our view)

• One page per main treatment, plus an emergency page with the phone number at the top.
• No claim you cannot back up: no "best", no guaranteed results, "specialist" only where the ADA rule allows.
• Insurance plans, payment options and the good faith estimate notice, kept current.
• The same Book button on every page and on your Google Business Profile.
• Name, address and phone matching your Business Profile, and Dentist structured data.
• Contact forms that ask for no health details, and health forms only through a secure portal.

To bring patients in through search ads, see Google Ads for dentists. Other practices have matching guides, such as what a therapist website needs, what a chiropractor website needs, what a medical practice website needs, what an accounting firm website needs, what a law firm website needs and what a veterinary clinic website needs. If you would rather have your practice website built for you, our website development service builds custom WordPress and static websites made to load fast, rank well and be easy for your team to edit.

Frequently asked questions

Can a general dentist say they specialise in implants?

The ADA code lets a dentist announce as a specialist only in recognised specialties and only if they meet the educational requirements, using "specialist in". A general dentist can say they offer implants without calling themselves a specialist. Check your state dental board's rules too.

Does a dental website need a good faith estimate notice?

CMS guidance says information about good faith estimates for uninsured and self-pay patients must be prominently displayed on a provider's website, in the office and where scheduling happens. CMS publishes a model notice you can use.

Can patients send medical history through the website contact form?

Our view is no. Keep the public contact form short and send health details through your practice software's patient portal or forms tool, and ask your HIPAA compliance adviser which tools you may use.