Facebook ads and dental practices: Meta's health and personal-attribute rules
Last reviewed against the regulators’ own text, linked in the sources below.
This is general information, not legal advice.
On this page
Meta's advertising standards stop a dental ad from implying that the person reading it has a health condition, and they stop ads from putting down how someone looks. A dental ad can break either rule in its first line of copy, and a question like "Missing teeth?" does exactly that.
Meta's own rules come first: the health and wellness policy, the personal-attribute rule, targeting limits and appeals. The UK rules that sit on top of them (GDC, ASA and the rest) are on the hub for dental advertising rules. This is general information, not legal advice.
What Meta restricts
Two policies do most of the work for a dental practice.
Personal attributes. Meta's rule is short: "Ads must not contain content that asserts or implies personal attributes."1 The protected list includes physical and mental health, medical conditions, age and financial status. A personal attribute here means a fact about the individual viewer. The problem is never the treatment you name. It's the suggestion that you know something about the person seeing the ad.
Health and wellness. This policy sets age limits and bans certain appearance claims.2 Four parts matter for dentistry:
| Rule in the health and wellness policy | What it means for a practice |
|---|---|
| Cosmetic products, procedures or surgeries "must be targeted to people at least 18 years or older"2 | Meta's list of named procedures does not mention dental treatment. I treat cosmetic dental ads (veneers, bonding, aligners for adults) as 18+ because it is the cautious reading. |
| Dental products "such as teeth whitening products" are exempt from the age rule2 | The exemption names products. It does not say an in-practice whitening treatment is a product, so I still set 18+ for whitening treatment ads. |
| No "statements of inferiority about physical appearance"2 | Copy that attacks how teeth look ("stained", "crooked", "embarrassing smile") is a rejection risk even when no health condition is mentioned. |
| Before-and-after transformations are allowed for cosmetic ads aimed at adults2 | Meta permits them. UK rules still apply on top: see the ASA and GDC pages on the hub. |
Copy that breaks the personal-attribute rule
This is where the information gain sits. Meta publishes paired examples: "Depression counselling" is acceptable, but "Depression getting you down? Get help now." isn't.1 The difference is the second-person question that assumes the reader has the condition. Dental copy falls into the same trap constantly.
| Rejection risk | Why | Rewrite that keeps the message |
|---|---|---|
| "Missing teeth? We can help." | Implies the viewer has lost teeth (physical health) | "Dental implants replace missing teeth. Book a consultation." |
| "Suffering from bleeding gums?" | Implies a medical condition | "Gum disease treatment with our hygiene team." |
| "Nervous about the dentist?" | Implies a mental-health attribute (anxiety) | "Calm, unhurried appointments for nervous patients." |
| "Hate your yellow teeth?" | Attacks appearance (health and wellness policy) | "Professional teeth whitening, prescribed after an assessment." |
| "Over 50 and wearing dentures?" | Implies age and a physical attribute | "Implant-retained dentures: how they work." |
| "Can't afford your treatment?" | Implies vulnerable financial status | "Spread the cost of treatment. Ask about payment options." |
The pattern: describe the treatment and who it's for in the third person, or talk about the benefit. Meta's guidance says ads can still use "you" and "your" as long as the sentence doesn't point at the attribute itself.1 "Book your implant consultation" is fine. "Your missing teeth" isn't.
The same test applies to the image and any text in it. Meta's review covers "images, video, text and targeting information" and the landing page.3 A clean headline over a close-up of damaged teeth with "Is this you?" overlaid still fails.
Targeting limits
Copy rules and targeting rules are separate. Meta removed detailed targeting options tied to health causes, with examples such as "Chemotherapy" and "World Diabetes Day", effective 19 January 2022.4 In practice that means a dental advertiser can't pick an interest audience built around a medical condition. Targeting for a practice now rests on location, age, broad interests and Meta's own delivery system.
Two consequences I plan around:
- Age is the one hard control you still set. For cosmetic procedure ads the 18+ floor is a policy requirement, not a preference.2
- Targeting doesn't excuse copy. Even if the audience is broad, an ad that implies the viewer has a condition breaks the personal-attribute rule. Meta judges the ad as seen by any viewer.
What data a practice may send back to Meta through the Conversions API is a different set of limits, and I cover it on the page about sending conversion data to Meta within the health-data limits.
Rejections and appeals
Meta's review "relies primarily on automated tools" and is "typically completed within 24 hours".3 Automated review is literal. It reacts to phrasing, so the rewrites in the table above tend to clear on resubmission without an appeal.
When a rejection looks wrong, Meta's route is to "request a review of the decision in Account Quality".3 Account Quality is the section of Meta Business Suite that lists rejected ads and account restrictions. My order of work:
- Read the policy named in the rejection notice. It usually names the personal-attribute or health and wellness policy directly.
- If the ad does break it, edit and resubmit. Do not appeal an ad you would lose.
- If it doesn't, request a review in Account Quality and keep the wording unchanged, so the reviewer sees what was flagged.
- Log what was rejected and why, so the same phrasing doesn't come back in next month's creative.
Repeated rejections carry a cost beyond the single ad. Meta states that when a violation is found, "the Business Account or its assets may be restricted".3 A restricted ad account stops every campaign, including the ones that were compliant.
These rules shape the creative long before the account is built. If you're weighing up running Meta ads for a practice, start from copy that passes this page, then add the UK rulebooks on top. If you want your current ads looked at, email me at Fayez@imfayez.com. The first look is free: I review the ads I can see publicly and the pages they lead to, from the outside, and reply with what I find. You can also read how I work first.
Sources
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Meta, "Privacy violations and personal attributes", Advertising Standards, last updated 26 June 2024. https://transparency.meta.com/en-gb/policies/ad-standards/objectionable-content/privacy-violations-personal-attributes/ (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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Meta, "Health and wellness", Advertising Standards, last updated 22 July 2026. https://transparency.meta.com/policies/ad-standards/restricted-goods-services/health-wellness (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6
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Meta, "Introduction to the Advertising Standards" (ad review process). https://transparency.meta.com/en-gb/policies/ad-standards/ (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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Meta for Business, "Removing certain ad targeting options and expanding our ad controls", 9 November 2021. https://www.facebook.com/business/news/removing-certain-ad-targeting-options-and-expanding-our-ad-controls (accessed 1 October 2026). ↩