Last verified: October 23, 2026, against the RCDSO, the Canadian Dental Association, Canadian privacy and anti-spam law, and Google and Meta policies. General information, not legal advice. Provincial rules vary; confirm with your privacy officer, your regulator or counsel.
Dental marketing in Canada borrows most of its tactics from the US, but the rules underneath are Canadian: your provincial dental regulator decides what an ad may say, provincial and federal privacy laws decide what you can do with patient data, and Canada's anti-spam law governs every recall email and text. This page covers what changes north of the border. For the channel mechanics themselves (keywords, service pages, ad structure), see our dental marketing hub.
Canadian clinic owners do search for help, in modest numbers:
| Search (Canada, monthly) | Volume |
|---|---|
| dental marketing | 390 |
| dental advertising | 210 |
| dental marketing agency | 90 |
| dental marketing canada | 70 |
| dental website design | 70 |
Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, Canada, 12-month average to Sep 2026.
How Canadians search for a dentist
Patients search the way people search for any local service: a treatment or need plus a place, often on a phone, often from Google Maps. What differs in Canada is the vocabulary and the questions behind the search.
- Coverage questions come early. If you bill benefits plans directly, say so plainly on every service page; a patient with workplace coverage needs that answer before calling.
- The Canadian Dental Care Plan. The federal Canadian Dental Care Plan (opens in a new tab) helps "make the cost of dental care more affordable for eligible Canadian residents." If your clinic sees CDCP patients, a clear page explaining that is worth more than a line in the footer.
- "Clinic," not only "office." Canadians say "dental clinic" as often as "dental office"; use both naturally.
- French in Quebec. Quebec patients search in French, and Quebec's Charter requires your commercial content to be at least in French.
What good looks like: one page per service (implants, emergency visits, children's dentistry, clear aligners), each answering cost, coverage and what happens at the first visit, with a phone number and an appointment-request form that works on a phone.
Provincial advertising standards for dentists
Each province has its own dental regulator, and the Canadian Dental Association keeps the list (opens in a new tab). It names, among others, the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario, the BC College of Oral Health Professionals, the College of Dental Surgeons of Alberta and the Ordre des dentistes du Québec. The CDA notes it is "an association that has no regulatory role," so your regulator's document, not the CDA, is the rule.
Ontario. The RCDSO's Advertising Guidelines (opens in a new tab) and its practice advisory (opens in a new tab) say advertising includes websites, newsletters, signage and anything else about the practice, "whether by you directly or by someone on your behalf." Dentists must not use:
- statements that are unclear, untrue or misleading;
- statements "indicative of superiority or uniqueness," or superlatives such as "state of the art";
- statements that create an expectation of favourable results or appeal to fears;
- testimonials, or any statement "that can only be verified by a person's personal feelings or views";
- incentive programs, such as giveaways, contests, draws, or free products or services.
Ontario dentists may advertise a fee, but it must be clear, and unless stated otherwise it is treated as the maximum fee, including lab costs, for every patient. Any ad mentioning a procedure must say whether the dentist is a general practitioner or a specialist. The RCDSO also bars marketing deals that split fees with a third party based on business generated, and offers to review proposed ads.
British Columbia. The BC College of Oral Health Professionals publishes unified Standards for the Oral Health Team (opens in a new tab); check them and ask the College's practice team about advertising before you run campaigns.
Elsewhere, go to your regulator from the CDA list. Rules on testimonials, free offers and before-and-after photos vary by province.
Privacy law for patient information
Which privacy law covers your patient records depends on the province:
- Ontario: dentists are health information custodians under PHIPA (opens in a new tab). Section 33 requires express consent to use personal health information for marketing.
- Quebec: private professional practices fall under Quebec's health and social services information act, with Law 25 governing other personal information.
- New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia: provincial health information acts, per the OPC's list (opens in a new tab).
- BC and Alberta: provincial private-sector laws, plus Alberta's Health Information Act where the provider is a designated custodian.
- Everywhere else, and across borders: PIPEDA.
For marketing, three practical rules follow: keep ad pixels off appointment forms, collect only what a callback needs, and know where your form and email vendors store data.
Emails, texts and recalls under CASL
Every commercial email or text you send is governed by Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (opens in a new tab). For a dental clinic, it sorts messages like this:
| Message | Consent needed? |
|---|---|
| Reminder or confirmation of a booked appointment, nothing else | No: it confirms a transaction the patient agreed to (s. 6(6)) |
| Six-month recall | Treat as commercial: implied consent lasts 2 years after the last paid visit |
| Whitening promotion or newsletter | Yes: implied or express consent |
General guidance, not legal advice. Every commercial message also needs your clinic's identification and a working unsubscribe.
ISED's consent guide (opens in a new tab) puts the implied-consent windows at "up to 2 years—or just 6 months in the case of inquiries or applications," and its texting guidance (opens in a new tab) says consent rules cover texts. A patient last seen three years ago needs express consent before your recall campaign reaches them. In Ontario, PHIPA's express-consent rule for marketing sits on top.
The CASL rules page has the full decision table.
Google Business Profile and RateMDs for clinics
Google. Google's Business Profile guidelines (opens in a new tab) name dentists as individual practitioners. A group clinic gets its own profile for the location; public-facing dentists may have their own; and a solo dentist at a branded clinic should share one profile named "[brand]: [practitioner name]." Google's content policy (opens in a new tab) bans incentivized reviews and businesses that "selectively solicit positive reviews from customers."
RateMDs. RateMDs lists dentists (opens in a new tab) as well as physicians, so your dentists may already have profiles. See RateMDs for clinics for claiming, flagging and replying.
In Ontario, remember the RCDSO's ban on testimonials when you're tempted to quote reviews on your own website or ads.
Google and Meta ads under Canadian rules
Platform policies apply in Canada as elsewhere, and your college's standard applies on top.
- Google Ads. The healthcare and medicines policy (opens in a new tab) says advertisers are expected to know "the local law and regulations for any location your ads target." Google's personalized advertising policy (opens in a new tab) treats health as a sensitive interest category, so advertiser-curated audiences such as Customer Match can't be used to promote it. Search ads on service keywords ("dental implants Mississauga," "emergency dentist Calgary") are unaffected.
- Meta. Meta's personal attributes policy (opens in a new tab) rejects ads that assert or imply a health condition. Copy like "Do you have missing teeth?" follows the pattern Meta rejects ("Do you have diabetes?"), while "Dental implants, explained by our team" follows the allowed one ("New diabetes treatment available").
- College rules in ad copy. An Ontario ad offering a free exam or "the best implant dentist in Ottawa" breaches the RCDSO standard even if Google approves it.
Where Medfy fits for a Canadian dental clinic
Start with what to look for in any partner, then where Medfy does and doesn't fit.
What good looks like: an evaluation checklist
- They name your regulator's advertising standard and write copy to it.
- Ad pixels stay off appointment forms and thank-you pages.
- They can say where form submissions and patient messages are stored.
- Ad accounts, Google Business Profile and domain stay in the clinic's name.
- Ad spend is billed to you by Google and Meta, with no hidden markup.
- Email and text campaigns follow CASL consent windows.
Cost drivers
Your costs come from four things: ad spend (paid to Google or Meta), management fees, the website (rebuild and hosting), and content production. Ad spend usually varies the most; set a monthly ceiling before anything else.
Red flags
- Promises of first-page rankings or a set number of new patients.
- Free-exam or giveaway campaigns pitched to an Ontario clinic.
- Testimonial carousels, fake reviews, or review requests sent only to happy patients.
- An agency that owns your ad account or Google listing.
- "HIPAA compliant" offered as the answer to Canadian privacy questions.
What Medfy does
Medfy rebuilds your website and hosts it on your own domain, with a page per service, structured data and HIPAA-compliant forms. It drafts researched articles every week from MedlinePlus and PubMed for you to approve, and tracks whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews name your clinic. The Google Ads and Meta ads add-ons manage campaigns inside budget limits you set, with ad copy checked against platform healthcare policies; your team still checks copy against your college's standard. Ad spend is paid directly to Google and Meta, never marked up. For Canadian clinics, patient information from forms, chat and the CRM is stored in a separate, encrypted Canadian database.
What Medfy doesn't do: review requests or reputation management, email or SMS marketing, online scheduling software, or French-language websites. A Quebec clinic would need its French content elsewhere.
The base plan is $349 per month (USD), with the Google Ads and Meta ads add-ons at $199 per month each and a HIPAA AI chat widget at $49 per month. Medfy pricing has the details. Before deciding anything, a free marketing audit scores your website, SEO, Google listing, AI visibility, social and ads. For the other provinces' rules, see healthcare marketing in Canada.
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm how it applies to your practice with a qualified advisor.
Frequently asked questions
Can Canadian dentists advertise discounts or free exams?
It depends on your province, so check your regulator first. In Ontario, the RCDSO prohibits incentive programs, including giveaways, contests, draws and free products or services. Ontario dentists may advertise a fee if it is clearly stated, and unless specified it is treated as the maximum fee for every patient, lab costs included. Other provinces set their own rules; the Canadian Dental Association lists each regulator.
Do dental clinics need consent to email recall reminders in Canada?
Usually, yes, under the federal anti-spam law. A reminder that solely confirms a booked appointment doesn't need consent, but a recall encouraging a new visit should be treated as a commercial message. Patients with a paid visit in the last two years give implied consent; older patients need express consent. Every message needs your clinic's identification and a working unsubscribe, and Ontario's PHIPA adds its own consent rule for marketing.
Are patient testimonials allowed in Canadian dental advertising?
Not in Ontario. The RCDSO's advertising guidelines prohibit testimonials and any statement that can only be verified by a person's feelings or views, and that covers websites and social media as well as print ads. Other provinces set their own rules, so check your regulator's current standard. Even where testimonials are allowed, privacy law requires the patient's consent before you identify them as your patient.
What does dental marketing cost for a Canadian clinic?
It depends mostly on ad spend, which you pay to Google or Meta, plus management fees, the website and content. Set a monthly ad ceiling first. Medfy's base plan is $349 per month (USD) for the website, weekly articles, AI visibility tracking and reporting, with Google Ads and Meta ads management at $199 per month each. Ad spend is paid directly to the platforms, never marked up.