Link in Bio for Dental Practices: Bookings, New Patients and the Rules (UK and Ireland)

September 15, 2026 · 6 min read

A dental link in bio page is advertising in the UK, so GDC guidance applies. Here is what to put on it, which booking tools to link, and the rules to check.

Quick answer: A dental link in bio page has one job, which is getting a new patient to register, book or reach you in an emergency within about ten seconds of tapping. In the UK that page is also advertising, so the General Dental Council's advertising guidance applies to it: GDC registration numbers, qualifications and the country they came from, whether you are NHS, mixed or wholly private, a complaints route, and a last-updated date. In Ireland the Dental Council's code expects the same honesty, plus a private fee notice published on your website.

What do patients actually tap a dental bio link for?

Three things, in this order. Are you taking new patients, and on what basis, which in the UK means NHS availability and in Ireland means PRSI Treatment Benefit or medical card acceptance. What does it cost. And can I be seen today, because toothache does not wait for office hours. Everything else on your page, the team photos, the smile galleries, the practice tour, is secondary to those three. Put the emergency or same-day contact near the top rather than burying it under a wall of treatment links.

What belongs on a dental practice link in bio page?

A workable running order for a mobile screen: new patient registration form; book online, linking straight into your practice software; emergency or same-day number with your out-of-hours arrangement stated plainly; treatment price list or fee notice; finance and membership plan options if you offer them; Google reviews; directions and parking, including the accessible entrance; and meet the team, with each named clinician's qualification, country of qualification and GDC number. Add the practice address, phone, email, complaints procedure and a visible last-updated line at the foot of the page.

On lit.bio that fits inside the free tier's ten links, and the free plan also includes the QR code, which is genuinely useful printed at reception, on appointment cards or in the window. The Pro plan at $9 per month, or $49 once for lifetime access, adds unlimited links, a contact form, email capture, the Book a Session calendar and removal of Lit.bio branding. One caveat worth saying out loud: do not let a bio page form collect symptoms or clinical history. Keep it to name and contact details, and route the clinical conversation into your practice system. Custom domains are not shipped on lit.bio, so your page lives at lit.bio/yourpractice.

What does GDC guidance expect a dental advert to show?

The GDC's Guidance on advertising has been in force since 30 September 2013 and is still its standalone advertising guidance. Read it yourself rather than relying on a summary, because it is short and specific. In outline, it asks that any dental professional named as providing care shows their professional qualification, the country the qualification came from and their GDC registration number; and that the site shows the name and geographic address where care is provided, contact details including email and telephone, GDC contact details, the complaints procedure and who to contact if a patient is dissatisfied, and the date the site was last updated. Promotional material must carry the registration number, be current and accurate, substantiate its claims, avoid ambiguous statements and avoid creating unjustified expectation about the results you can achieve. Ads should also state whether the practice is NHS, mixed or wholly private.

Two traps catch practices on bio pages. Titles: only dentists on one of the GDC's 13 specialist lists may use titles such as Orthodontist or Periodontist, and others should use wording like "special interest in" or "practice limited to". And treatments you cannot advertise at all: tooth whitening is legally dentistry following the High Court in GDC v Jamous, so provision by anyone unregistered is a criminal offence, and botulinum toxin is a prescription-only medicine, which under CAP Code rule 12.12 cannot be advertised to the public by name or by indirect reference. CAP rule 12.25, in force since 25 May 2022, also says cosmetic intervention ads must not be directed at under-18s through media selection or context. None of this is legal advice, so check the GDC and ASA pages before you publish.

Can we put before and after photos on the page?

Often yes, but they are treated as testimonials under CAP Code rules 3.47 to 3.50. That means holding signed and dated proof the images are genuine and unmanipulated, holding evidence for the efficacy they depict, and not enhancing them in a way that exaggerates the effect. If you cannot lay hands on the paperwork for a case, do not put it on the page. The same discipline applies to reviews: under the DMCC Act regime that took effect on 6 April 2025, with the CMA's CMA208 fake reviews guidance, incentivised reviews must be made apparent, so "leave us a review for 10% off" is now a compliance question rather than a free win. Start free and build the page, then have whoever handles your marketing sign off the gallery and the review block before it goes live.

How should we present prices?

Transparently, and expect scrutiny. The CMA's market study into private dental services published its statement of scope on 5 March 2026 with a final report due by 4 March 2027, and it explicitly covers the information consumers receive and how prices have changed. In England, NHS charges from 1 April 2026 are Band 1 at GBP 27.90, Band 2 at GBP 76.60 and Band 3 at GBP 332.10 as of 2026, one charge per completed course of treatment, so check the NHS page for current figures. In Ireland, PRSI Treatment Benefit from 31 January 2026 covers a free examination once per calendar year plus EUR 50 towards a scale and polish, with the patient's balance for that capped at EUR 15, as of 2026 and worth verifying on gov.ie. Show a range where a range is honest, say what is included, and say what happens if more treatment is needed.

What is different in Ireland?

The Dental Council's Code of Practice: Professional Behaviour and Ethical Conduct, dated March 2022, requires published information to be truthful, decent, factual and accurate, and not misleading or raising unreasonable expectations. Para 16.6 prohibits canvassing patients directly or trying to persuade them to leave another dentist or practice, which rules out the "switch from your current dentist" hook that UK marketing templates lean on. On fees, para 6.1 requires display in an open and transparent way in line with the Council's Code of Practice relating to the Display of Private Fees, effective 1 June 2011, with an estimate given and agreed before treatment starts. Secondary summaries of that code say a fee notice must also be displayed on the practice website where one exists. Treat that as the safe assumption, and confirm it against the Dental Council's own published code.

Which booking tools do practices actually use?

Software of Excellence EXACT and Carestream R4 dominate the legacy and NHS installed base, Dentally is the cloud-native option gaining ground in private and mixed practices, and SoftDent appears too. Online booking is usually a module or widget of whichever of those you run, or a booking link on your Google Business Profile. Link out to that rather than rebuilding it. One practical note: Google's business links policy says local business links must lead to a dedicated landing page for the business and must let the customer complete the action, and it bars link shorteners and social sites. So put your full practice website in Google Business Profile, and use the bio page where it belongs, on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.