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Hong Kong's 1,700 dentists will be allowed to advertise in the print media but cannot associate themselves with health care products or services, according to  a professional code of conduct that will take effect on Friday.
The Dental Council mailed the new code to  dentists yesterday, three months after the Medical Council  lifted  a ban on doctors advertising.
Laying down the details for 'good communication and accessible information', the code says as patients are vulnerable to 'persuasive influences', they should be protected from misleading advertisements.
Information provided by a dentist to the public must be accurate, factual and objectively verifiable, and should not be persuasive and sensational. Dentists are also not allowed to disparage their peers.
'The new code opens up information for the public to make  informed choices.  At the same time, the council wants to make sure it will be done in a regulated way,' a source familiar with the  code said.
The code allows dentists to publish information in newspapers, magazines, journals  or periodicals.  Like the code for doctors, the size of the printed advertisements must be smaller than 300 sq cm.
Content of the advertisements is limited to basic information such as dentists' names,  information on clinics and qualifications approved by the Dental Council. Only one advertisement is allowed per  publication.
Dentists have to keep a record of these publications for two years.
They can also  post information about their practices on  websites, subject to the same rules imposed on advertisements in printed media.
'Some dentists  have   websites for their practices, but it is unclear in the old code  what information they can put up there. The situation is very confusing,' the source said.
The source said dentists  had to make sure the advertisements  would not be an endorsement of any products or services.
For example, advertisements in 'close proximity' to advertisements for those products or services is not allowed.
'It is worrying that some dentists are taking advantage of the current grey areas   by helping to  promote oral products. These activities are clearly banned in the new code,' the source said.
The code also says dentists cannot give the impression that they have unique or special skills.
'Dentists can tell the public that they have a new technology, but they have to remind patients that it is only an alternative to  conventional treatments,' the source said.
Dentists can also post a list of fees at their clinics.
The Dental Council received 126 complaints in 2006. Two dentists were issued warning letters for advertising and canvassing for services.
The Medical Council  was forced to lift its decades-old ban on doctors' advertising after the Court of Appeal ruled  it was unconstitutional.
The judgment came  in January after a review initiated by Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital deputy medical superintendent Kwong Kwok-hay,  who claimed the ban amounted to a breach of his right to freedom of expression.



Dentists free to run adverts but told not to push products