Google Ads healthcare policy for dentists: what is restricted and how to fix disapprovals
Last reviewed against the regulators’ own text, linked in the sources below.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Google's healthcare policy affects dental ads in two ways: what your ads and landing pages may say, and who you may target. In the UK you can't use prescription drug terms such as Botox in ads or on the pages they link to, and ads for health procedures can't use your own audience lists, such as remarketing or Customer Match.12 Most dental disapprovals come from those two rules or from Google's rules on misleading claims.
Google's policies are set out as they read on 1 October 2026. Campaign setup isn't covered. The UK law and regulator rules that sit alongside them are mapped on the UK rulebooks hub.
This is general information, not legal advice. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. Google changes these policies often; each section links to the live policy.
What Google restricts
Google's Healthcare and medicines policy says it expects "ads and destinations follow appropriate laws and industry standards". Some healthcare content can't be advertised at all; some needs certification and approved locations.3 A destination is the landing page an ad sends people to, and Google reviews it as part of the ad.
For a UK dental practice, these parts of Google's policies matter most:
| Policy | What it restricts | Where dentists meet it |
|---|---|---|
| Restricted drug terms | For locations other than Canada, New Zealand and the United States: "You may not use prescription drug terms in ads or landing pages."1 | Facial aesthetics pages naming a toxin brand; any page naming a prescription medicine |
| Prescription drug services | Online prescribing, dispensing and sale of prescription drugs need certification3 | Rarely relevant to a dental practice |
| Health in personalised advertising | No advertiser-curated audiences for health products and procedures2 | Implant, surgical and injectable campaigns |
| Misrepresentation: unreliable claims | Claims "that entice the user with an improbable result... as the likely outcome"4 | "Pain-free", "perfect smile", "lasts forever" |
| Misrepresentation: unacceptable business practices | Offering services you "don't have or can't deliver, including not having the right licences or qualifications"4 | Titles or services the clinician is not qualified for |
| Inappropriate content: shocking content | "Graphic images or accounts of physical trauma" and "gratuitous portrayals of bodily fluids"5 | Surgical photos, bleeding gums, extraction images |
Two points catch practices out. First, the restricted drug terms rule applies to landing pages, not just ad text. A UK campaign linked to a page that names Botox can be disapproved even though the ad itself doesn't mention it. Second, Google's rules sit on top of UK advertising rules, not instead of them. An ad Google approves can still breach the CAP Code, and the reverse is also true.
Targeting limits
Personalised advertising means showing ads based on what Google or you know about a person, rather than only on what they are searching for. Google treats health as a sensitive interest category. Its health definition includes "invasive medical procedures, including cosmetic surgery, surgical procedures or injections" and treatments for chronic health conditions.2
Google doesn't name dentistry. My reading is that implant surgery, full-arch treatment, extractions under sedation and facial injectables fall within that wording, while routine check-ups probably don't. Google's classifier makes the final call on each ad and landing page.
For ads in a sensitive category, Google's rule is: "You can use predefined Google audiences. You can't use advertiser-curated audiences."2
| Targeting feature | Health procedure ads | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Match (uploaded patient or enquiry lists) | Not allowed | Advertiser-curated |
| Your data segments (remarketing to site visitors) | Not allowed | Advertiser-curated |
| Audience expansion | Not allowed | Advertiser-curated |
| Lookalike segments | Not allowed | Advertiser-curated |
| In-market and affinity segments | Allowed | Predefined by Google |
| Demographics and detailed demographics | Allowed, with exceptions | Predefined by Google |
| Location targeting | Allowed | Predefined by Google |
| Custom segments | Restricted if the ad or landing page is sensitive | Depends on content |
Source for every row: Google's restricted targeting policy.6 It adds that users under 18 are not eligible for personalised advertising at all, and that Demand Gen and Discovery campaigns use advertiser-curated audiences by default, so they "may be restricted from serving" for sensitive categories.6
Common disapprovals
These are the policy areas a dental account is most exposed to, based on the policies above. Google shows the policy name next to a disapproved or limited ad in the account.
| What Google flags | Typical dental trigger | What to change |
|---|---|---|
| Restricted drug terms | Landing page or ad names a prescription medicine | Remove the term, or send the ad to a consultation page that does not name it |
| Health in personalised advertising | Remarketing, Customer Match or lookalikes on an implant or injectables campaign | Remove advertiser-curated audiences from the campaign, ad groups and asset groups |
| Unreliable claims | "Pain-free implants", "perfect results every time", "new teeth in a day" presented as the norm | Describe the process and options; drop outcome promises |
| Shocking content | Surgical or blood-visible images in image assets | Use non-graphic images |
| Unavailable offers | Ad promises an offer or price the landing page does not show4 | Make the page match the ad, or change the ad |
| Unacceptable business practices | Claiming a qualification or specialism the clinician does not hold4 | Correct the claim; see the GDC rules on titles |
The unacceptable business practices policy is treated as egregious: Google says accounts found violating it "will be suspended upon detection and without prior warning".4 That is the one to avoid at all costs.
Commercial questions (whether Google Ads suits your practice and who should run it) are covered on the page about running Google Ads for a practice.
Fixing them
Google's documented fix routes are the same across these policies: edit the targeting, edit the ad or the site, or appeal.6
- Read the policy name, not just the status. "Eligible (limited)" means the ad can run with restrictions; "Disapproved" means it can't run. The policy name tells you whether the problem is the text, the page or the targeting.
- Fix the cause at every level. For targeting issues, Google tells advertisers to check "ad groups, asset groups and campaigns" for audiences, not just the ad.6
- Edit and wait for re-review. When you save an edited ad, Google reviews it again automatically.6
- Appeal only when Google has got it wrong. Appeals are made from the Google Ads account. Since 21 July 2026, in-account appeals are not available for policy decisions made more than six months earlier.7
- Do not keep resubmitting a known breach. Google warns that repeated violations can lead to account suspension, and advises removing ads you can't fix.6
How the policy shapes a working account is on running Google Ads for a practice. If your ads keep getting limited or disapproved, email [email protected] with the policy names shown; the first look is free.
Sources
-
Google Ads, "Restricted drug terms". https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/15595717?hl=en-GB (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩ ↩2
-
Google Ads, "Health in personalised advertising". https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/16701855?hl=en-GB (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
-
Google Ads, "Healthcare and medicines". https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/176031?hl=en-GB (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩ ↩2
-
Google Ads, "Misrepresentation" (unreliable claims; unacceptable business practices; unavailable offers). https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6020955?hl=en-GB (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5
-
Google Ads, "Inappropriate content" (shocking content). https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6015406?hl=en-GB (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩
-
Google Ads, "Restricted targeting in personalised advertising". https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/143465?hl=en-GB (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6
-
Google Ads, "Update to appeal limits (July 2026)", posted 21 July 2026. https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/17251522?hl=en-GB (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩