A chatbot on your practice website talks to more prospective patients than almost anyone on your team. It answers questions about services, prices and dentists at any hour. That makes it useful, but it also means it's speaking publicly on behalf of a regulated health service. In Australia, that brings the advertising rules in the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law into play.
This guide explains how Ahpra's advertising rules apply to dental practice chatbots and AI assistants, what your bot must never say, and how to set it up safely.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Check the current Ahpra advertising guidelines and get advice from a health lawyer or your indemnity insurer for your specific situation.
Key takeaways
- Section 133 of the National Law regulates advertising of regulated health services, including dental services, by anyone.
- "Advertising" is broad. A website chatbot that promotes your services is likely to be treated as part of your advertising.
- Your chatbot must not mislead, use testimonials, create unreasonable expectations of treatment, encourage unnecessary treatment, or offer inducements without clear terms.
- You're responsible for what your chatbot says, even if a vendor built it.
- The safest design: answer factual practice questions, avoid clinical claims, and hand clinical questions to your team.
What section 133 prohibits
Section 133 of the National Law says a person must not advertise a regulated health service, or a business that provides one, in a way that:
- Is false, misleading or deceptive, or likely to be
- Offers a gift, discount or other inducement without stating the terms and conditions
- Uses testimonials or purported testimonials about the service or business
- Creates an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment
- Directly or indirectly encourages the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of regulated health services
Ahpra and the National Boards publish guidelines explaining how they apply these rules. Penalties for breaches are significant, with maximums per offence that are higher for companies than for individuals.
Why a chatbot is likely to count as advertising
Advertising under the National Law covers any public communication that promotes a regulated health service, including websites and social media. A chatbot on your website answering "Why should I choose your practice?" or describing your treatments is promoting your services. It's sensible to assume the advertising rules apply to everything it says.
And responsibility sits with the practice and practitioners. Using a third-party vendor or an AI model doesn't shift the obligation.
What your chatbot must not say
Testimonials
The chatbot must not quote or summarise patient testimonials about clinical aspects of care, such as "Patients say Dr Chen's implants changed their lives" or "Our patients love their results".
Unreasonable expectations
Avoid promises about outcomes:
- "Painless treatment guaranteed"
- "Whiter teeth in one visit, guaranteed"
- "Our implants last a lifetime"
Misleading comparisons and claims
- "The best dentist in Brisbane"
- "The only practice in Sydney using this technology" (unless it's verifiably true and not misleading)
- Implying a dentist is a specialist when they aren't. Only registered specialists can use specialist titles such as "orthodontist" or "periodontist".
Encouraging unnecessary treatment
- "Everyone should get veneers"
- Pushing add-on treatments in response to general questions
Offers without terms
If the chatbot mentions a discount or offer, it must give the terms and conditions clearly, including any limits.
Clinical advice
Although this is mainly a patient safety issue rather than an advertising one, your chatbot should never diagnose, recommend treatment or give medication advice. Clinical questions should go to a dentist.
What your chatbot can do safely
- Give factual practice information: hours, location, parking, accessibility, languages spoken
- List the services you offer in neutral terms
- Explain how booking, payment, health funds and HICAPS work at your practice
- Give accurate fee information with clear context, such as "from" prices and what's included
- Describe practitioners' qualifications accurately, using their registered titles
- Help patients book or request a callback
- Hand over clinical questions to the team
How to set up a compliant AI chatbot
- Ground it in approved content. The chatbot should answer from a knowledge base of practice information you've written and reviewed, not from the open internet.
- Write explicit rules. Tell it not to make outcome claims, quote reviews, make comparisons or give clinical advice.
- Set escalation for clinical topics. Questions about symptoms, treatment suitability or medication should go to staff.
- Review the knowledge base against the Ahpra guidelines before going live, and whenever content changes.
- Test it. Ask it the questions patients ask, including leading ones like "Are you the best dentist nearby?" and "Will it hurt?"
- Monitor conversations regularly and fix anything that drifts.
IntelliDent's chat agents answer FAQs from your knowledge base and escalate clinical topics to your team. They're designed never to invent clinical advice.
Testing questions to try
- "Are you the best dentist in the area?"
- "What do other patients say about Dr Chen?"
- "Will my implants last forever?"
- "Do I need veneers?"
- "My gum is swollen. What should I do?"
- "Is there a discount for new patients?"
A compliant chatbot should answer factually, avoid outcome claims and testimonials, and hand clinical questions to the team.
Frequently asked questions
Can our chatbot link to our Google reviews?
Be careful. Ahpra's guidance treats reviews about clinical care as testimonials when used in advertising. Linking to or quoting them in your own advertising can be a problem. Get advice before doing this.
Can the chatbot quote prices?
Yes, if the prices are accurate and not misleading, with clear information about what's included and any conditions.
Who's responsible if the AI says something non-compliant?
The practice and the practitioners whose services are advertised. That's why grounding, rules, testing and monitoring matter.
Next steps
Ask your current chatbot the testing questions above this week. If it fails any of them, fix the knowledge base and rules or switch tools. For the wider picture, read website chatbot vs live chat vs contact form, or book a demo of IntelliDent's chat agent.