The fine print

The fine print on cosmetic dental work

Cosmetic dental work in Australia answers to several sets of rules at once. The National Law protects dental titles and specialist titles, and sets requirements for advertising a regulated health service; the Poisons Standard schedules hydrogen peroxide and carbamide peroxide in teeth-whitening preparations by strength; and the Australian Consumer Law gives guarantees with services supplied to a consumer in trade or commerce.

This site, published by Dotto, reads each of those rules from the law and from the regulators’ own pages. It is not a dental practice: it offers no treatment and names no dentist, clinic or product.

General information, not dental, medical or legal advice. The Dental Board of Australia regulates dental practitioners for the safety of the public, and Ahpra publishes an online register of all dental practitioners and their registration status.

An advertisement, drawn in outline. Each numbered marker is a claim an advertisement can make; the notes below say which rule governs it. Amber marks a prohibition.

Footnotes

Six claims and the rules behind them

1
Who may call themselves a dentist
“Dentist” is one of five dental titles the National Law protects, with or without other words added.
2
Dental specialists and their titles
There are 13 dental specialties in Australia, each with one or more specialist titles.
3
How dental services may be advertised
The National Law forbids using testimonials about a regulated health service in advertising it.
4
Before-and-after images
Ahpra’s advertising guidelines ask for care with them, because they have the potential to mislead.
5
Teeth whitening and the Poisons Standard
Hydrogen peroxide above 6% and carbamide peroxide above 18% in teeth-whitening preparations are in Schedule 10, except in preparations made for, and supplied only by, registered dental practitioners as part of their dental practice.
6
Your rights with private dental services
For services supplied to a consumer in trade or commerce, the Australian Consumer Law guarantees due care and skill, fitness for a purpose made known, and a reasonable time.

Regulators

Who keeps which rule

Four sets of rules meet in a cosmetic dental advertisement, and each has its own keeper.

The rules this site covers, the law each comes from, and the body that explains it, as at 9 October 2026.
Rule	Where it comes from	Who explains it
Titles and registration	Sections 113 to 119 of the National Law	The Dental Board of Australia, with Ahpra
Advertising	Section 133 of the National Law, and guidelines the National Boards developed jointly under section 39	Ahpra and the Dental Board
Whitening preparations	The Poisons Standard, given legal effect through state and territory legislation	The Therapeutic Goods Administration
Consumer guarantees	The Australian Consumer Law	The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

In proceedings for an advertising offence, a court may have regard to an advertising guideline approved by a National Board. Ahpra and the Boards say plainly that they cannot advise whether a particular advertisement complies.

The register

Checking a practitioner

Ahpra publishes the Register of practitioners. A name on it means the person is allowed to practise, and any type of registration or condition that limits what they can do is published there too. For dentists with specialist registration, the register also shows the specialty or specialties they hold.

A practitioner may be registered under a different name from the one they are known by. Ahpra suggests asking them, or the service where they work, for the registered name, or asking for their registration number and searching by that. Ahpra keeps two further lists, of practitioners whose registration was cancelled and of practitioners who have formally agreed to stop practising; nobody on either may provide any service as a health practitioner.

The guide to dental titles sets out the five registered divisions, and the guide to specialists lists the 13 specialties and their specialist titles.

This site

How this site was written

Every rule here comes from the National Law itself, the Poisons Standard October 2026, the Australian Consumer Law, and the pages of the Dental Board of Australia, Ahpra, the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The Law and the instruments are quoted word for word; the regulators’ pages are put in plain words. Every source is listed at the foot of each page.

Nothing here describes a treatment or says what anyone should do about their own teeth. It sets out the rules, and points to the people who keep them.