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How can Facebook and Instagram ads bring more patients to a dental practice?

Meta ads show your practice to people in your area before they search for a dentist. Our team plans the campaigns with you, and our agents watch spend and enquiries 24/7, holding any line that breaks Meta's or Ahpra's rules. A person on our team approves every ad before it runs.

Included from Growth, $3,490 a month + GST · Ad spend paid to Meta, with no markup · Month to month

Meta ads · 24/7

How Meta ads differ from Google Ads

Meta ads suit practices that want to reach people who are not yet searching: new-patient offers, and awareness in a defined area. The two channels work together.

  • Who sees the ad

    Google Ads: people already searching for a dentist. Meta ads: people in your area who are not searching yet.

  • What each one does

    Google catches demand that already exists, from people ready to book. Meta creates demand before the search. See Google Ads for dentists.

  • Where the enquiry goes

    A page, a lead form or a message. Every enquiry reaches your front desk by email and SMS, and your team calls it back.

The same practice, two places
Google search
dentist near me
Sponsored · harbourlanedental.exampleHarbour Lane Dental · Book a check-up

Someone already searching sees the ad.

Instagram feed
Harbour Lane DentalSponsored · sample practice

Implant consultations with our dentists, at our clinic.

Someone near you sees it while they scroll, before they search.

What our agents do on your Meta account

Five jobs, 24/7. Each one is logged with its reason, and anything that goes public waits for a person on our team.

It holds a line that asks about a health condition. An ad can name a service. It cannot tell the reader they have a condition. Meta does not allow that line, and neither do the health-advertising rules, so the agent holds it before it runs and suggests one a person on our team can approve.

11:03 pmChange log: Line held before publish; reason: asks about a health condition

Ad preview
Harbour Lane DentalSponsored · sample practice

Are you in pain? Book today.

Held: asks about a health condition.

Emergency dental appointments at our clinic.

Suggested, waiting for a person on our team.

Advantage+ creative
Text improvementsMeta's AI rewrites your lineHeld
MusicMeta adds a soundtrackHeld
AnimationPan and zoom on the imageHeld
Image cropPractice name still in viewFor a person
Before it reaches Meta
Event nameimplant_consult_leadHeld
Web address?treatment=veneersHeld
Audience from a patient listA list of treated patients is health informationNot uploaded
Suggested event nameconsult_leadFor a person
Audience check
AdVeneer consultationsCosmetic
Age range set16 to 65+Held
Age range to run18 to 65+Ready for a person
Ad sets tonight
New patients · local areaCost per enquiryOn target
Implant consultationsCost per enquiryOn target
Whitening · wider areaCost per enquiryPast target
Pause proposedWhitening · wider areaProposed
Spend this monthInside the agreed budgetNever past it

Who Meta ads are for

Practices that judge Meta on booked consults, not likes.

  • Practices that want booked consults for a named treatment.

    One treatment, one next step, a local area. Judged on enquiries, not likes.

  • Practices that call each enquiry back.

    Every enquiry reaches your front desk by email and SMS, and a person at your practice calls it back.

  • Practices that let us refuse a clinical claim.

    Lines that break Meta's or Ahpra's rules do not run, even when they would get clicks.

  • Not for practices that want likes, or ads published with no person checking them.
Your front desk
New enquiries
Email · Meta lead formImplant consultations
SMS · message to the practiceNew patient check-up
Email · treatment pageArrived at night, waiting for opening
Your team calls each one back

What a dental ad on Meta can say

Two rule books land on the same sentences: Meta's ad rules and Ahpra's rules for health advertising. One check covers both.

In the adRuns or heldWhy
Runs
Implant consultations with our dentistsNames the service, not the reader's conditionNames the service, not the reader's condition
A photo of your real teamNo patient, no clinical resultNo patient, no clinical result
An offer with its terms in the adThe terms sit beside the offerThe terms sit beside the offer
Held
Are you in pain?Asks about a health conditionAsks about a health condition
Have you been told you need implants?Tells the reader they have a conditionTells the reader they have a condition
A before-and-after photo or a patient quoteA clinical result or a testimonialA clinical result or a testimonial
Best, cheapest, or a free consult with no termsMisleading, or an offer without its termsMisleading, or an offer without its terms

A person on our team reads every ad before it runs. This is not legal advice.

From the first call to day 90

We agree the budget and the target with you. From then on, our team and our agents run the campaigns.

  1. 01Call
    Free 30-minute strategy session

    By video or phone. We look at your practice and what it needs.

  2. 02Week 1
    Access, target and budget

    You give us partner access, and we agree a cost-per-enquiry target and a budget. Agents are live within the first week.

  3. 0324/7
    Agents on your ads

    A new campaign goes live the same day it is agreed. Every change is logged.

  4. 04Monthly
    A written report

    Enquiries, cost per enquiry against the target, ad spend against the budget, and the new patients you report.

  5. 05Day 90
    We check the target

    If it is missed, we work for free until we hit it. Conditions on pricing

Our agents never spend past the agreed budget, and every change is logged for you to see.

Your practice owns the Meta ad account. Our access is a partner link you can remove.

Practices that run Meta ads with us

Growth in new patients a month, from each practice's lowest month to its highest month.

Every practice on our case-study pages whose services include Meta ads. Growth worked out from practice-reported new patient numbers, and not attributed to any one channel. Marketing results only. See every case study

What does it cost?

Meta ads are included from the Growth plan. Growth also includes AI Overviews visibility, Google Business Profile management, website chat and automation, on top of Google Ads and SEO.

The day-90 promiseWe work for free until we hit it.

In week one we agree a cost-per-enquiry target with you. On the Growth and Group plans, if it is missed at day 90, our management fee is free until the target is reached. Ad spend paid to Meta is not included.

Read the conditions on pricing

Growth

$3,490 a month + GST

Included from Growth, $3,490 a month + GST

See pricing
  • Meta ad spend from $1,500 a month, paid directly to Meta, no markup
  • Month to month, 30 days notice
  • One named account lead, reply within 1 business day

Questions about Meta ads

Anything else, send us a message.

How are Facebook and Instagram ads different from Google Ads?

Google Ads reaches people already searching for a dentist. Meta ads reach people in your area before they search.

Google catches demand that already exists: someone types a search, sees your ad and clicks through when they are ready to book. Meta creates demand: your practice appears while people near you scroll Facebook or Instagram, which suits new-patient offers and awareness in a defined area.

Neither is better, and the two work together. Both are judged on cost per enquiry against the target we agree with you. We recommend a split between them after reading your accounts. See Google Ads for dentists for the search side.

What does it cost, and what is paid to Meta?

Meta ads are included from the Growth plan, $3,490 a month + GST. Your ad spend is paid directly to Meta, with no markup from us.

Growth also includes AI Overviews visibility, Google Business Profile management, website chat and automation, on top of the Google Ads and SEO in the Foundation plan.

  • Plans are month to month, with 30 days notice.
  • Plans are charged to a card, monthly in advance.
  • One named account lead looks after your practice and replies within 1 business day.

The ad spend is a separate bill between your practice and Meta. Meta ad spend starts at $1,500 a month. We agree the budget with you, and our agents never spend past it. The full plan list is on pricing.

How fast can a campaign go live?

Our agents are live within the first week.

The week starts when three things are in: partner access to your Meta ad account, a cost-per-enquiry target we agree with you, and a monthly budget. Your practice keeps ownership of the account the whole time.

After that first week, a new campaign goes live the same day it is agreed. Every change, from a new ad set to a held line, goes into your change log with its reason, so you can see what moved and why. A person on our team reads every ad before it runs.

What budget should we expect to pay Meta?

At least $1,500 a month, paid directly to Meta. We agree the exact budget with you on the strategy session, and the agents never spend past it.

The budget is set around your area, the treatments you want more bookings for and the cost-per-enquiry target we agree. It is paid directly to Meta, separate from our management fee, with no markup from us.

Once it is agreed, the budget is ours to run: our team and our agents move spend between ad sets inside it, 24/7. A change to the agreed budget itself always waits for your OK.

Who owns the ad account?

Your practice owns it. Our access is a partner link that you can remove at any time.

If you switch to us from another agency, we handle the handover. Your ads keep running, and you do not pay two agencies for an overlap.

If you leave, plans are month to month with 30 days notice. You keep:

  • your Meta ad account and its campaigns,
  • your landing pages,
  • your change log.

We remove our access within 5 business days. Every change made while we ran the account stays in that change log with its reason, so the history of the account stays with you too.

What do the agents do 24/7, and what waits for a person?

The agents watch and check the account 24/7. Anything that goes public waits for a person on our team, and some changes wait for you.

What the agents do on their own:

  • read spend and enquiries against your cost-per-enquiry target,
  • hold lines and settings that break Meta's or Ahpra's rules,
  • keep treatment names out of Meta's tools and check cosmetic ads are 18+,
  • propose a pause when an ad set runs past the target.

What waits for your OK: new ad copy and offers, clinical wording, a change to the agreed budget, and new campaigns or channels. The agents never spend past the agreed budget, and every change is logged.

Can the ads mention implants, aligners or whitening?

Yes. An ad can name a treatment. It cannot tell the reader they have a condition.

"Implant consultations with our dentists" can run. "Have you been told you need implants?" cannot: it tells the reader something about their health, which Meta's rule on personal attributes and the health-advertising rules both refuse. One check covers both.

For cosmetic treatments such as veneers or whitening, Meta requires the ad to be aimed at people 18 or older. The agent checks the age setting before the ad runs, and holds it until the range starts at 18. Ahpra's rules apply to the ad and to its landing page. This is not legal advice.

Can we use before-and-after photos or patient reviews?

No. We do not use before-and-after clinical photos or patient reviews in ads.

The health-advertising rules do not allow testimonials about clinical care, and a patient's comment about a treatment or its result counts as one. A before-and-after image shows a clinical result, so it is held too, along with lines such as "best" or "cheapest".

What runs instead:

  • photos of your real team and your practice,
  • information about a service, without assuming anything about the reader,
  • an offer, with its terms in the ad.
Can we upload a patient list to build an audience?

No, and we never ask for one.

A list of people who had a treatment is health information. Meta does not allow health information in its tools: not in custom audiences, not in event names and not in web addresses.

So the agent also holds a tracking name that carries a treatment, such as implant_consult_lead, and suggests a neutral one, such as consult_lead, for a person on our team to approve. Audiences are built from where people are and, for cosmetic ads, their age, never from your patient records. We do not need access to your practice management system.

Can an ad offer a free consultation?

Only with its terms in the ad.

An offer in health advertising has to carry its terms. A "free consult" with no terms is not allowed, so it does not run until the terms sit beside the offer.

New offers are also one of the changes that wait for your OK, together with new ad copy, clinical wording, a change to the agreed budget and new campaigns. A person on our team reads every ad before it runs, and the agent holds any line that breaks Meta's or Ahpra's rules. This is not legal advice.

Where does an enquiry from the ad go?

To your front desk, by email and SMS. Your team calls the enquiry back.

An ad can lead to a page built for that treatment, to a Meta lead form, or to a message to the practice. Wherever the person enquires, the enquiry reaches your front desk the same way. An enquiry that arrives at night waits until the practice opens, and your team calls it back then.

We count an enquiry as an answered call, a form or an online booking from the ads. Spam, existing patients and calls under 30 seconds do not count. That is the number the cost-per-enquiry target is measured on. The agents read those enquiries against your target 24/7, and the monthly report shows them beside ad spend and the new patients your practice reports.

How do we see what the agents did?

Every change is in your change log with its reason, and you get a written report every month.

The monthly report leads with four numbers:

  • enquiries,
  • cost per enquiry against your target,
  • ad spend against your budget,
  • the new patients your practice reports.

The change log is live, so you do not have to wait for the report to see what moved. Each entry shows what changed, when and why.

At day 90 we check the cost-per-enquiry target. If it is missed, we work for free until we hit it. The conditions are on pricing.

Meta ads, watched 24/7. Included from Growth, $3,490 a month + GST.

Book a free 30-minute strategy session. We look at your practice, agree a budget and a cost-per-enquiry target with you, and our agents are live within the first week.

Ad spend paid to Meta, with no markup · Month to month