# What a dental practice website needs: pages, GDC and CQC rules, and cost

> What a UK dental practice website needs: NHS availability, fees, emergency route, GDC numbers, CQC rating display, nervous patients page and the advertising rules.

- Source: https://nerdsharks.com/blog/what-a-dental-practice-website-needs
- Publisher: Nerdsharks (Exeter, Devon, UK)
- Updated: 2026-09-26

**Short answer:** A dental practice website needs a clear statement of NHS availability, published fees for NHS bands and private treatments, an emergency appointment route, a page for each main treatment, team profiles with GDC numbers, and a page for nervous patients. In England you must display your current CQC rating on your website if you have been rated, and advertising must follow GDC guidance and the CAP Code.

Published 2026-09-26. 8 min read. Category: Advice by type of business.

Dental patients arrive in three states: in pain and wanting an appointment today, looking to register and wanting to know if you take NHS patients, or researching implants, aligners or whitening over several weeks. Many are anxious. A dental practice website has to serve all three without making any of them hunt, and it has to meet some specific regulatory requirements while it does.

This guide sets out the pages, the rules and the mistakes, and what a dental website costs. It is not legal advice; the GDC, CQC and ASA publish the detail and should be your reference.

## Answer the NHS question first

Whether you are accepting new NHS patients is the most asked question in British dentistry, and many practice websites answer it vaguely or not at all. Put a clear, dated statement on the homepage: “We are currently accepting new NHS patients for children only”, or “We are not taking new NHS adult patients. We do have private appointments available this month.”

Keep it current. A statement that was true in 2024 and has not been touched since causes frustration and wasted calls, and it undermines trust in everything else on the site.

## The pages a dental practice website needs

**Dental practice website pages and what each must do**

| Page | What it must do |
|---|---|
| Home | NHS availability, emergency route, how to register, and your CQC rating where applicable. |
| New patients | How to register, what the first appointment involves, what to bring, and how long it takes. |
| Fees | NHS charge bands as currently set, and private prices for each treatment, with finance options where offered. |
| Emergency dentist | How to get a same-day appointment, what counts as an emergency, and out-of-hours arrangements such as NHS 111. |
| Treatments | A page for each significant treatment: what it is, who it suits, the process, risks, cost and the clinician who provides it. |
| Our team | Every clinician with photo, qualifications and GDC registration number; specialists only if on a GDC specialist list. |
| Nervous patients | What you do differently for anxious patients, sedation options if offered, and how to tell you in advance. |
| Practice information | Hours, access, parking, complaints procedure, privacy notice and regulator details. |

## GDC rules for dental websites

The General Dental Council’s standards and guidance on advertising expect dental professionals to make sure their advertising is accurate, legal and honest and does not mislead. In practice, that means a few specific things for your website. List each dental professional with their GDC registration number and qualifications. Only describe someone as a specialist if they are on one of the GDC’s specialist lists; otherwise say what they have a special interest in. Avoid claims you cannot substantiate, such as “the best implant dentist in Devon” or “pain-free”.

Show your complaints procedure and make clear how patients can raise a concern. Check the GDC’s current guidance on advertising and on ethical advertising, because it is updated from time to time.

## CQC ratings and other regulators

In England, dental practices providing regulated activities must be registered with the Care Quality Commission. Under Regulation 20A of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, providers that have been given a CQC rating must display it on their website if they have one, in a prominent place, with a link to the CQC’s report. CQC provides a widget that does this and stays current automatically, which is the simplest way to comply.

In Wales dental practices are regulated by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, in Scotland by Healthcare Improvement Scotland and NHS boards, and in Northern Ireland by the RQIA. Check what each expects you to publish.

## Advertising treatments: the CAP Code and medicines

Marketing on your own website is covered by the CAP Code. Claims about results, such as how straight teeth will be after aligners or how white after whitening, need to be realistic and backed by evidence. Before-and-after photos are allowed, but they should be real cases, not retouched, and representative of typical results.

Botulinum toxin is a prescription-only medicine, so dental practices offering facial aesthetics must not advertise it to the public by name. Describe a consultation for the concern instead. Tooth whitening in the UK is restricted by law to dentists and certain registered dental professionals working to a dentist’s prescription, and the concentration of hydrogen peroxide is capped, so avoid anything that suggests otherwise.

## Nervous patients and plain English

A page that talks directly to anxious patients is one of the most valuable pages a practice can have. Explain what you do differently: longer appointments, agreed stop signals, explaining every step, sedation where offered. Use plain English. “We will talk you through everything before we start, and you can stop at any time by raising your hand” does more than any photo of a smiling model.

Real photographs of the practice, the waiting room and the team reduce anxiety. Stock images of perfect teeth tend to increase it.

## Mistakes dental websites make

- Ambiguous or out-of-date NHS availability.
- Private treatments with no prices, or “prices on consultation” for everything.
- Missing or outdated CQC rating display in England.
- Clinicians described as specialists who are not on a GDC specialist list.
- Botox advertised by name.
- Emergency information buried in a footer.
- A single “treatments” page covering everything, which cannot rank for implant, aligner or whitening searches.

## What a dental practice website costs

The main things that drive cost for a dental website are the number of treatment pages, whether booking and patient forms are integrated with your practice management software, and whether you run more than one site. Photography of the practice and team is money well spent, since real images reduce the anxiety that stock images create.

Specialist dental marketing agencies commonly quote £3,000 to £15,000 for a practice website, sometimes with ongoing marketing retainers on top. General freelancers may charge £1,500 to £5,000. Online booking and patient forms usually come from your practice management software, which may carry its own fees.

We design dental websites from scratch, write every page with you, and keep the CQC widget, fees and NHS statement current as part of the service. A single practice with up to 12 pages fits our Monthly plan at £299 plus £99/month (12 months minimum), or Own It at £1,795 plus £49/month for up to 25 pages. Multi-site groups needing integrations with practice software would look at Pro at £6,950 plus £299/month. Nerdsharks builds for independent practices and larger dental groups alike.

## Questions

### Do dental practices have to show their CQC rating on their website?

Yes, in England dental practices registered with the CQC that have been given a rating must display it on their website, under Regulation 20A of the regulated activities regulations. The CQC provides a free widget that shows the current rating and links to the report, which is the easiest way to comply.

### Should a dental website list GDC numbers?

Yes, a dental website should list each dental professional with their GDC registration number and qualifications. The GDC expects accurate information in advertising, and patients increasingly check the register. Only use the title specialist for clinicians on a GDC specialist list.

### Can a dental practice advertise Botox on its website?

No, a dental practice should not advertise Botox or any named botulinum toxin product to the public, because it is a prescription-only medicine. You can describe a consultation for concerns such as lines and wrinkles instead. Check the ASA’s guidance on advertising botulinum toxin.

### Should a dentist publish private prices online?

Yes, publishing private treatment prices online is strongly recommended. Patients compare practices on price for treatments like implants, aligners and whitening, and a practice that withholds prices tends to lose enquiries to one that shows them. Give from prices and explain what affects the final cost.

### What pages does a dental website need?

A dental website needs a home page with NHS availability, a new patients page, fees, an emergency dentist page, a page for each major treatment, team profiles with GDC numbers, a nervous patients page, and practice information including the complaints procedure and privacy notice.

## Sources

- Regulation 20A: Requirement as to display of performance assessments, Care Quality Commission, 2026: https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/regulations/regulation-20a-requirement-display-performance-assessments
- The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code), Advertising Standards Authority / CAP, 2026: https://www.asa.org.uk/codes-and-rulings/advertising-codes/non-broadcast-code.html