Marketing agency
Dental marketing agency: getting known without advertising
Advertising is prohibited for dentists. Information is not. The whole difference lies in what you say, not in the fact of making yourself known.
Marketing and advertising are not the same thing
Many dentists hold back from any communication because they remember a rule that has since changed. Decree No. 2020-1658 of December 22, 2020 removed the general ban on advertising that appeared in Article R.4127-215 of the French Public Health Code. What remains prohibited is specific: obtaining a priority position in a ranking in exchange for payment (R.4127-217 II), advertising a commercial business (R.4127-225), and using third-party testimonials (R.4127-215-1 I).
In other words: you are not allowed to buy your visibility, but you are allowed to be found. That is exactly the space in which a dental marketing agency can work, and it is the only one we work in.
Depending on who you ask, we are a dental communication agency, a dental marketing agency or an SEO agency for dentists. All three names cover the same work: getting the practice found on Google and in AI answers, and producing the content for its social media.
What a dental practice's communication covers
A patient looking for a dentist goes through three or four places before calling: the Google map, your website, social media, and more and more often an AI they put the question to. A practice's communication is all of those places, kept together and consistent with one another.
The practice website
One page per treatment, fees displayed, and the information the French Dental Council (Ordre national des chirurgiens-dentistes) makes mandatory. It is the only shop window you truly own.
See the page 2The Google Business Profile
The map shows three practices above the list of websites. Being one of them or not changes the number of calls, without buying anything.
See the page 3Social media
Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook. One in two people aged 15 to 80 has already looked for information via a social network (Médiamétrie, 2025).
See the page 4AI answers
ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews, which have appeared above the list of websites since July 22, 2026.
See the page 5The SEO that ties it all together
What makes these four places echo one another instead of contradicting each other, and lets Google understand which practice it is dealing with.
See the pageWhat we do not do, and why
A general marketing agency often sells levers that are closed to a dental practice. Better to say so before we start.
- No paid advertising on Google, Instagram or Facebook for your practice. Buying a priority position falls under Article R.4127-217 II.
- No patient testimonials, written or filmed. Article R.4127-215-1 I is explicit on this point.
- No before/after photos. The code does not name them, but the recommendations of the Dental Council's national board cite them as an example of risk. We prefer to stick to what is safe.
- No comparisons with other dentists, no promise of results, no invented reviews.
Nothing goes out without your written approval. The article-by-article detail is in our guide on what the Dental Council allows on a dentist website.
An agency that works only for dental practices
The ethical framework is not an execution detail: it decides what can be written, line by line. An agency that discovers the code of ethics on your account learns at your expense, and it is you, not the agency, who answers to your departmental (local) Dental Council.
We work only for dentists, in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Our texts cite the articles they rely on, and we also spell out what is not allowed.
On the blog
Our articles on this topic.
Dental marketing: what the code of ethics allows, and the five levers that bring in patients
Marketing vocabulary translated into the French framework, a table of eight common practices checked against the articles of the code, the five levers ranked by what they require, a ninety-day plan and the ten-minute check.
Read the article ArticleIs advertising banned for dentists? The seven levers you are still allowed to use
Seven visibility levers allowed by the code of ethics, each with the rule, the concrete action and the mistake to avoid.
Read the article ArticleInstagram indexed by Google: what it changes for a dental practice
The exact scope of Google and Bing indexing for Instagram professional accounts, the catch with Stories, and what it changes about what a dental practice posts.
Read the article ArticleWhat you are allowed to display on your dentist website: titles, degrees, specialties
The title reserved for the three specialties, the right wording for implant and cosmetic dentistry, the rule for unrecognized degrees, and before-and-after examples.
Read the articleFrequently asked questions
What dentists ask us about this.
Is a dentist allowed to work with a marketing agency?
Yes. Decree No. 2020-1658 of December 22, 2020 removed the general ban on advertising from Article R.4127-215. A dentist may communicate, provided the content complies with the code: no purchased priority position, no third-party testimonials, no advertising for a commercial business. It is the content that is regulated, not the fact of getting outside help.
Can a dentist advertise?
Not in the sense of buying visibility: a paid ad, a priority position bought in a ranking (Article R.4127-217 II) or advertising for a commercial business (R.4127-225) remain prohibited. Yes in the sense of informing: since the decree of December 22, 2020, a practice can present its treatments, its fees, its team and its opening hours on a website, a Google Business Profile and social media. The lever-by-lever details are in our article on the dentist advertising ban: the levers still allowed.
What is the difference between a marketing agency and an SEO agency?
SEO is one part of communication: it is what makes Google, the map and AI tools find you. Communication also covers what patients read and see once they have found you: the website, social media, and the consistency between the two. We do both, because one without the other leaves the job half done.
Can you run the practice's social media for us?
Yes. You record a voice memo; we write, design, edit, subtitle and publish. You approve before every post. The details are on our page about social media for dental practices.
Do you work with health centers and group practices?
Yes, in France as well as in Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg. The rules differ from one country to another, and we apply those of yours.
Where do we start?
With a free diagnostic: we look at where you really stand on Google, on the map and in AI answers, and we go through it with you on a video call. You leave with the findings, whether or not you go on to work with us.
What's next
Let's talk about your practice.
The simplest step is to request your diagnostic: you will see where your practice really stands on Google, on the map and in AI answers, and we walk through it together on a video call.
No commitment.