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Botox and facial aesthetics advertising in dental practices

Last reviewed against the regulators’ own text, linked in the sources below.

This is general information, not legal advice.

On this page
  1. The ban
  2. Wording that is allowed
  3. Websites, ads and social
  4. Sources

You can't advertise Botox to the public, and that includes your website homepage, paid ads, social media posts and hashtags. Botox is a prescription-only medicine, and UK law bans advertising those to the general public; the CAP Code repeats the ban in rule 12.12.12 What you can promote is the consultation, and your website can carry limited, factual information about the medicine on inner pages.

What follows applies that ban to a dental practice that offers facial aesthetics, not to the treatment itself. For every other rulebook, see the map of the rules that govern dental marketing.

This is general information, not legal advice. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026.

The ban

A prescription-only medicine (POM) is a medicine that can only be supplied against a prescription. Botulinum toxin products are POMs; the ASA names Botox, Vistabel, Dysport, Bocouture and Azzalure as examples.3 The rules below apply to all of them, not just the best-known brand.

Two rulebooks say the same thing:

SourceWhat it says
Medicines law, enforced by the MHRA"You can't advertise prescription-only medicines (POMs) to the general public but you can promote them to healthcare professionals."1 The law is Part 14 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.
CAP Code rule 12.12, enforced by the ASA"Prescription-only medicines or prescription-only medical treatments may not be advertised to the public."2

The MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) regulates medicines advertising in the UK. The ASA applies rule 12.12 to clinic ads, and its Botox guidance points advertisers to the MHRA's Advertising Standards Unit for further advice.3

The ASA reads "advertising" widely. It says that in leaflets, press ads, posters and sponsored ads it "considers almost every reference to Botox" as promoting a POM.3 On social media, "any reference to Botox on their social media pages, including hashtags, is likely to be seen as an implied ad".3

Related CAP rules add to the ban:

  • Rule 12.18: no health professionals or celebrities endorsing medicines. A dentist fronting a post about Botox is an endorsement by a health professional.2
  • Rule 12.25: ads for cosmetic interventions must not be directed at under-18s through the choice of media or context.2
  • Social responsibility: the ASA has ruled against aesthetics ads that exploited insecurities about ageing.3

Dental practices have not been good at this. A 2021 study of 450 practices in North East England and North Cumbria found 148 practice websites mentioning or offering skin treatments, of which only six were fully compliant, and no Instagram account was.4

The GDC adds its own duty. If you offer a service your primary dental qualification doesn't cover, you must train for it and "should make clear that you have undertaken extra training to achieve competence".5

Wording that is allowed

The ASA's guidance separates promoting the consultation, which is allowed, from promoting the medicine, which isn't.36

Wording or contentAllowed?Why
"Botox", or any brand name, in an ad, social post or on the homepageNoDirect promotion of a POM
"Anti-wrinkle injections" when the treatment you offer is BotoxNoThe ASA says leaving the name out "and referring to anti-wrinkle injections" does not get round the ban6
"Beautox", "#botox" or similarNoIndirect references "have the same effect as direct references"6
"A consultation for the treatment of lines and wrinkles"Likely acceptableThe ASA gives this as an example claim "likely to be considered acceptable"3
"Cosmetic fillers" or "injected fillers" for treatments that are not POMsAllowedOnly if nothing implies Botox is offered3
Botox on a website price list alongside other treatmentsAllowed, with careNo product claims and no encouragement to choose on price3
Before-and-after photos of Botox resultsNoRead as an efficacy claim for a POM3
Claims that an alternative matches Botox resultsNoListed by the ASA as a "don't"3

The consultation has to be real. The ASA says it must be clear that "discussion of various treatment options will take place" and that the product won't be given to anyone who isn't suitable.6 A consultation that only ever ends in one product is promotion of that product.

Websites, ads and social

Each channel has a different limit. The strictest rule wins wherever two overlap.

Website. Inner pages may give balanced, factual information about a POM "in the context of the product being a possible treatment option following a consultation", in line with the patient information leaflet or Summary of Product Characteristics.3 The ASA says there should be no POM reference "in a sponsored ad, on the homepage of a website, in logos, testimonials or hover text", and the homepage small print should not link straight to a page that names one.3

Google Ads. Google's own policy is stricter than the website rule. For campaigns targeting locations other than Canada, New Zealand and the United States, "You may not use prescription drug terms in ads or landing pages."7 A UK campaign that lands on your inner Botox information page will be disapproved, even if the ASA would accept the page. Send ads to a consultation page that doesn't name the medicine.

Social media. Treat every profile, bio, caption, story, highlight and hashtag as an ad. Name the consultation, not the product. Do not use practitioner or patient videos that show or name the medicine.

The evidence rules behind every claim on those pages are in the CAP Code for dental practices. For a free first look at your aesthetics pages and public profiles, email [email protected].

Sources

  1. GOV.UK (MHRA), "Advertise your medicines", updated 11 April 2025. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/advertise-your-medicines (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩ ↩2

  2. CAP Code, section 12, rules 12.12, 12.18 and 12.25. https://www.asa.org.uk/type/non_broadcast/code_section/12.html (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. Advertising Standards Authority, "Anti-ageing: Botulinum toxin products", updated 29 October 2025. https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/anti-ageing-botulinum-toxin-products.html (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14

  4. Donnell C, Woolley J, Worthington S. "Advertising and facial aesthetics in primary care: how compliant are practice websites and social media with published guidance?" British Dental Journal, 25 March 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-021-2718-4 (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩

  5. General Dental Council, "Guidance on advertising", effective from 30 September 2013. https://www.gdc-uk.org/standards-guidance/standards-and-guidance/gdc-guidance-for-dental-professionals/guidance-on-advertising (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩

  6. Advertising Standards Authority, "Smoothing out the wrinkles of advertising Botox", 27 June 2024. https://www.asa.org.uk/news/smoothing-out-the-wrinkles-of-advertising-botox.html (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. Google Ads, "Restricted drug terms". https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/15595717?hl=en-GB (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩

Further sources