Saskatchewan dentist advertising: the six practice name words, the testimonial ban and the September 2025 standard

Section 10 of the CDSS Advertising Standard states that practice names are considered advertising and must be pre approved by the Advertising Review Committee. Section 11 lists the acceptable practice names: Practice, Office, Group, Clinic, Studio or Centre. Section 12 adds that acceptable names leave out the implied specialties Family and Emergency, because section 7 reserves specialty advertising for dentists licensed in that specialty.

That shapes naming more than in most provinces. A Saskatchewan dentist who wants to be known for families has no way to say so in the name; the positioning has to live in the website copy, the photography and the service descriptions instead. Professional corporation names used in advertising also need committee approval and must comply with the Professional Corporations Act.

Section 8 bars the names of staff, retired dentists after one year, former associates and former partners from advertising, so a practice named after a founder who has left needs a plan.

Section 14 requires advertising to be accurate, objectively verifiable, relevant to an informed choice, and free of personal feelings, beliefs, interpretations, opinions, bias and testimonials. Section 16 defines objectively verifiable as capable of being proven by facts independent of personal feelings, beliefs, interpretations or opinions.

Section 15 lists what advertising should leave out: superlatives and statements of superiority, uniqueness or comparison to other providers; undignified or deprecating statements; suggestions of better results or unjustified expectations; coercion that takes advantage of physical, emotional or financial duress or urgency; incentive programmes, coupons, giveaways and discounts; references to materials, techniques, equipment and services; and specialties the College has no recognition for.

The equipment line surprises owners. A page built around a named scanner or laser brand is a reference to equipment, and the standard asks practices to leave it out of advertising.

The standard splits marketing in two. Internal advertising is directed solely to people inside the practice and to patients of record, mailing list subscribers and social followers who chose to follow. Under section 19, a practice website and the social profiles associated with the practice count as internal advertising, and section 17 asks only that they be accurate, objectively verifiable, free of anything that could mislead, professional, and consistent with the informed consent standard.

Section 18 lists what tips a post into external advertising, which must meet the entire standard: promoted posts and sponsored ads, website domain names and addresses, posts that use tags, hashtags or location services, posts that request tags or shares, posts that incentivise reviews, referrals or new patients, posts by businesses, media outlets and influencers, and all posts on platforms that push content to non followers, with TikTok named as the example.

The September 2025 version keeps that list, so the practical rule for a Saskatchewan practice is simple: an unhashtagged post to existing followers lives under the lighter test, and the moment a hashtag or a location tag goes on it, the full standard applies.

Section 7 limits advertising as a specialist to dentists licensed in that specialty, and section 6 lets a general dentist advertise specialty services only if the advertisement clearly states, in the standard's own disclaimer wording, that a dentist who holds no specialty licence provides them. Section 9 limits designations to DDS, DMD and earned academic dental degrees, diplomas and certificates, and keeps honorary degrees and fellowships to papers and CVs.

For a brand, the constraint is clarifying. With testimonials, superlatives and equipment references out, a Saskatchewan practice is left to compete on what it can prove: the services it provides, who provides them, how it treats people, and a name and identity that patients remember. That is where the design budget belongs.