ADVISORY: DENTAL PRACTITIONERS' PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION PLATFORMS
1 Dental practitioners (dentists and oral health therapists) should refrain from participating in online Search Engine Optimisation platforms that make use of patient feedback and ratings, as these feedback and ratings can be considered to be patient testimonials which are forbidden under the circumstances stated in 5.4.6(f) of the Singapore Dental Council (SDC)
Ethical Code and Ethical Guidelines (“ECEG”).
2 We refer to the following section of the SDC ECEG:
Testimonials are subjective and must not be used in advertising on any media where the dental practitioner has any control over the content about himself/herself. Dental practitioners must not ask or induce their patients or anyone to write positive testimonials about themselves in any media.
3 In particular, dental practitioners should not be paying for such services by purchasing packages from these platforms for the purpose of obtaining patient testimonials, as payment for such packages or services could be considered to be express agreement on the part of dental practitioners to allow patient testimonials to be part of their publicity and medical advertisement activities.
4 Thank you.
Mr Peter LEE
Executive Secretary, Singapore Dental Council