Updated 29 October 2026 to reflect the latest rules and guidance.
Every year, as December approaches, dental practices start thinking about health fund benefits. Many patients with extras cover have annual limits that reset at the end of the calendar year, and plenty of them haven’t used theirs. It’s a natural time to remind people they might be due for a check-up.
It’s also a time when a lot of dental marketing drifts into territory the advertising rules don’t allow. The rules haven’t changed for the deadline, but several things around them have: the higher-risk non-surgical cosmetic advertising guidelines that name dental veneers took effect on 2 September 2025, the SMS Sender ID Register went live on 1 July 2026, and consumer law penalties doubled from 28 March 2026. Here’s how to approach end-of-year campaigns in a way that’s helpful to patients and safe for your practice.
Reminding patients isn’t the problem
Letting patients know their benefits may be about to reset, and that they might be due for a check-up, is genuinely useful information. Many people simply forget. A friendly, factual reminder can help them look after their oral health and make good use of the cover they’re paying for.
The risk isn’t in reminding people. It’s in how the message is framed, who it goes to and what it pushes them towards.
The rules that apply to end-of-year campaigns
Three sets of rules do most of the work here. They overlap, and a single email or social post can be tested against all of them.
The National Law and the Ahpra advertising guidelines
Section 133 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law sets the core advertising offences, and Ahpra’s Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service, in effect since 14 December 2020, explain how they apply. Three parts matter most for health fund campaigns:
- Unnecessary use. Section 4.5 of the guidelines says: “Advertising must not directly or indirectly encourage the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of a regulated health service.” One of its examples is advertising that encourages a person to attend periodic or regular appointments where there is no clinical indication to do so.
- Urgency. The same section flags phrases such as “don’t delay”, “act now before it’s too late” and “don’t miss out”, and says time-limited wording may be unlawful where it is linked to unsubstantiated claims that a person’s health may suffer.
- Offers and inducements. Section 133(1)(b) prohibits advertising that offers a gift, discount or other inducement to attract a person to use a service unless the advertisement also states the terms and conditions of the offer. Section 4.2 of the guidelines adds that terms should be in plain language and easy to find.
Ahpra says the maximum penalty for an advertising offence rose to $60,000 for an individual and $120,000 for a body corporate under the 2022 National Law amendments.
The Dental Board’s Code of conduct
Dental practitioners have been covered by the shared Code of conduct for 12 National Boards since 29 June 2022. It sits alongside the advertising guidelines and shapes how your professional conduct, including what you recommend and why, is judged.
The Australian Consumer Law
Like every business, a dental practice must not mislead patients about prices, rebates or what an offer includes. From 28 March 2026, the fixed maximum penalty for a corporation under the Australian Consumer Law doubled from $50 million to $100 million per contravention. Those are maximums, not typical outcomes, but they show how seriously misleading pricing is treated.
Where end-of-year campaigns go wrong
“Use it or lose it” messaging that pushes treatment because the benefit is there, rather than because the patient needs it, is exactly what section 4.5 describes. Watch out for:
- Treatment-led urgency. “Don’t waste your benefits, book your whitening before December 31!” promotes treatment based on timing, not need.
- Vague “no gap” offers. “No gap check-ups” without explaining which funds, which items and which patients it applies to can mislead. Gap outcomes depend on the patient’s fund, level of cover and remaining limits, and any offer needs clear terms and conditions.
- Bundled freebies. A free electric toothbrush or whitening kit for booking before a deadline is an inducement. It needs plain-language terms in the advertisement itself, and it should never be attached to cosmetic procedures.
- Scarcity pressure. “Only five spots left!” style messaging adds pressure that doesn’t belong in health advertising, and if it isn’t true it is also misleading.
- Implied clinical need. “Your teeth need a clean before the year ends” tells every recipient they need treatment, whether or not they do.
A better way to frame it
Lead with the patient’s care, and treat the benefit as useful context rather than the reason to book. For example:
“If you have extras cover, your annual limits may reset at the end of the year, depending on your fund. If you’re due for a check-up and clean, now might be a good time to book. Check with your health fund for details of your cover.”
That message is accurate, puts the decision in the patient’s hands and doesn’t suggest anyone needs treatment they don’t. Note the wording “may reset” and “depending on your fund”. Funds handle limits differently, and some run on a financial year or membership year rather than a calendar year, so don’t state it as a universal fact.
If you do want to mention gap-free services, be specific: “For patients with [named funds], we don’t charge a gap for a standard check-up and clean (items and limits apply, see terms).” Then link to terms that list the funds, the services, any limits on frequency and the end date.
Cosmetic dentistry needs extra care
End-of-year campaigns often lean on cosmetic treatments. Be careful here. Dental veneers are named among the procedures covered by Ahpra’s Guidelines for practitioners who advertise higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures, which took effect on 2 September 2025 and apply to individuals and businesses, not just practitioners. Among other things, they:
- strengthen the testimonial ban, including content from influencers and ambassadors
- require real, unedited before-and-after images with a prominent warning that results may vary
- ban images of under-18s and advertising targeted at under-18s, and require social media ads to be identified as adult content
- ban trivialising content such as emojis, music, lifestyle shots and competitions, and ban automated tools that predict how someone will look after a procedure
- require the practitioner’s registration details where a specific practitioner is advertised
The companion practice guidelines for practitioners who perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures, also effective 2 September 2025, ban promoting financing schemes and offering free or discounted procedures for promotion. Check with your indemnity insurer or adviser how those practice guidelines apply to the cosmetic procedures you offer. Either way, veneers and other cosmetic treatments should never be pushed with deadline-driven offers or bundled into a health fund campaign.
Whitening that doesn’t involve a higher-risk procedure still falls under the general advertising guidelines, so the urgency, inducement and unnecessary-use rules above all apply.
What it means for each channel
Email and SMS
This is where most health fund campaigns happen, and it suits them well because you can target patients who are genuinely due. Use your practice management system to find patients who are past their usual recall period, and send them a personal reminder. That’s far more effective than a blanket campaign, and it keeps the focus on clinical need.
Under the Spam Act, marketing emails and SMS need consent and a working unsubscribe. The ACMA’s 2024 action against Luxottica, the owner of OPSM, is a useful warning: about half of the emails it sent without an unsubscribe were order confirmations and password resets that also included or linked to marketing content, which the ACMA said made them commercial messages. If your recall reminder adds a promotion, treat it as marketing.
If you send SMS under your practice name rather than a phone number, register that sender ID through your SMS provider. Since 1 July 2026, messages from unregistered sender IDs are labelled “Unverified” by the carrier, and the ACMA specifically named medical and dental surgeries among the organisations that should register.
Website
If you run a health fund landing page, keep it factual: how extras limits generally work, a prompt to check with the fund, how to book and any terms that apply. Avoid countdown timers and banners that make the deadline the message.
Social media and paid ads
Social posts and paid ads are advertising, and they are where urgency creeps in, because short copy rewards punchy calls to action. Keep the same hedged wording you’d use in an email. Don’t target or boost cosmetic content to under-18s, and remember the higher-risk cosmetic rules on adult-content labelling and imagery if veneers appear anywhere in the campaign.
Google Business Profile
Google posts and offers are advertising too. If you post a health fund reminder, use the same careful wording, and don’t reply to or repost patient reviews that talk about treatment results as part of the campaign.
In-clinic material
Posters, reception screens and appointment cards should match your digital messaging. A reception poster saying “Use your benefits before they expire!” has the same problems as the email version.
Common mistakes we see
- Sending the same “use it or lose it” email to the entire database, including patients who were seen last month.
- “No gap” claims with no named funds, no item limits and no terms.
- Gifts with purchase where the terms sit only on a separate page nobody links to.
- Recall reminders that slip in a whitening promotion but have no unsubscribe link.
- Veneer before-and-after images reused in a health fund campaign without the required warnings.
- Reception staff giving a different answer about gaps than the website or the email.
- Stating that “all benefits reset on 31 December”, which isn’t true for every fund.
A practical checklist before you send
- Does the message focus on the patient’s care rather than the deadline?
- Is it going only to patients who are clinically due, rather than the whole database?
- Is any health fund information accurate and hedged with “may” and “depending on your fund”?
- Have you removed “don’t miss out”, “act now” and similar urgency phrases?
- Does any offer, gift or discount include plain-language terms and conditions in the advertisement itself, with an end date if there is one?
- Are cosmetic treatments, especially veneers, kept out of deadline-driven offers?
- Are there no testimonials or patient reviews about clinical results anywhere in the campaign?
- Has every recipient agreed to receive marketing, and does every message have a working unsubscribe?
- Is your SMS sender ID registered with your provider?
- Does the reception team know exactly what the offer is and isn’t?
How this fits with other rules
The National Law and Ahpra’s guidelines govern what you can say about a regulated health service. The Australian Consumer Law covers whether your prices and offers are accurate. The Spam Act covers how you send marketing messages, and the Privacy Act covers how you use patient records to decide who receives them. Using your own recall data to remind your own patients is a common and expected use, but your privacy policy should describe it, and patients should be able to opt out of marketing.
Looking further ahead, the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Act 2026 received assent on 6 July 2026 and commences on 1 July 2027. It includes a drip pricing rule requiring transaction-based charges to be shown with any displayed base price, so it’s worth getting into the habit of showing total prices now.
Frequently asked questions
Can we tell patients their health fund benefits expire on 31 December?
Only in hedged terms. Many funds reset extras limits at the end of the calendar year, but not all do, and limits depend on each patient’s policy. “Your annual limits may reset at the end of the year, depending on your fund” is accurate. “Your benefits expire on 31 December” may not be.
Is a “no gap” offer allowed?
It can be, if it’s accurate and the terms are clear. Say which funds, which services and which patients it applies to, any frequency limits and when it ends. The terms need to be easy to find from the advertisement itself.
Can we send an end-of-year email to every patient on our list?
You can send marketing to patients who have consented, with a working unsubscribe. But a blanket “use your benefits” campaign is more likely to encourage unnecessary use. Targeting patients who are past their recall period is safer and usually performs better.
Can we include whitening or veneers in the campaign?
Keep cosmetic treatments out of deadline-driven health fund messaging. Veneers are covered by the higher-risk non-surgical cosmetic advertising guidelines, which have strict rules on images, testimonials and trivialising content. Whitening still falls under the general rules against urgency and unnecessary use.
Can we offer a free gift for booking before the end of the year?
A gift is an inducement under section 133(1)(b), so the advertisement must state the terms and conditions. Think about whether it encourages unnecessary appointments, and don’t attach gifts or discounts to cosmetic procedures.
Do appointment reminders need an unsubscribe link?
A purely factual reminder about an existing appointment is generally not marketing. Once you add a promotion or offer, it becomes a commercial message and needs consent and a working unsubscribe, as the ACMA’s Luxottica action showed.
Related articles
- The NDIA crackdown on “NDIS approved” and “100% NDIS funded” ads
- Bulk billing and fees: how to describe them clearly on your website
- SMS Sender ID Register: what practices need to do for patient texts
- What NDIS providers can and cannot say in their marketing
Need a hand?
Want a second set of eyes on your end-of-year campaign? Our compliant content team can review it before it goes out, and our patient email marketing service can set up recall-based reminders that go to the right patients. You can also read more about how we work with dental practices.
This article is general guidance based on the published rules, not legal advice. Final responsibility for advertising sits with the registered practitioner, and complex situations may need independent legal advice.
Sources
- Ahpra: Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service
- Ahpra: National Law amendments 2022
- Ahpra: Code of conduct updated to improve patient safety
- Ahpra: Guidelines for practitioners who advertise higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures
- Ahpra: Guidelines for practitioners who perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures
- ACMA: Luxottica pays $1.5m penalty for spam breaches
- ACMA: SMS Sender ID Register goes live
- ACMA: Call to action for all organisations using branded SMS
- Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Act 2026