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Advertising Standards Regulations (Regulation 4)

made under Section 45 of the
Dental Act
S.N.S. 1992, c. 3
O.I.C. 2000-402 (August 2, 2000), N.S. Reg. 136/2000

Citation
1 These regulations may be cited as the Advertising Standards Regulations.

Preamble
2 (1) The term “advertising” in relation to the dental profession must be taken in its broadest sense and includes all those methods by which persons registered under the Dental Act are made known to the public.

(2) Members of the profession have the right to present relevant dental practice information to the public in order that the public is better able to make informed choices concerning dental care needs.

(3) Each member is responsible for his/her own conduct as well as all information disseminated on behalf of their practice.

Advertising permitted
3 Subject to the Act and these regulations, a dentist may advertise.

4 Advertising by a dentist shall

(a) be accurate and not false, fraudulent, ambiguous, or likely to be confusing, misleading or deceptive;

(b) be capable of being proven to be true by facts independent of personal feelings, beliefs, opinions or interpretations;

(c) be of a dignified nature, in good taste, so as to uphold the dignity, honour and ethics of the profession and not bring the dentist or profession into disrepute;

(d) avoid comparisons with another practice or member, and avoid suggestions of uniqueness or superiority over another practice or member;

(e) not refer to the quality of service to be provided;

(f) be directed at the general public and not at an individual member of the public other than current patients of record; and

(g) be relevant to the public’s ability to make an informed choice.

Relevant public information
5 Relevant public information includes

(a) a dentist’s proper name;

(b) a dentist’s professional description;

(c) any academic degrees gained by examination;

(d) a specialty recognized by the Board, if applicable;

(e) an office and e-mail address;

(f) an office telephone and fax number;

(g) the office hours and days open;

(h) the languages spoken;

(i) the universal symbols such as the symbols for wheel chair accessibility, “VISA”, and “Interac”;

(j) the services available.

Prohibitions
6 No dentist shall publish, display, distribute, cause or permit directly or indirectly, the publication, display, distribution or use of any advertisement, announcement or information related to the dentist’s practice that

(a) contravenes Section 5; or

(b) makes reference to an area of practice, dental procedure or treatment unless the advertisement, announcement or information discloses whether the dentist is a licensed specialist or general practitioner and, if a specialist, in what particular specialty.

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