For Practice Owners
Do paid listings affect dentist ratings?
By The Local Dentist Editorial · Updated 13 July 2026
The short answer is absolute
Paying The Local Dentist does not raise your score. It does not suppress a competitor's score. It does not invent five-star reviews. Partner revenue comes from optional listing tiers, city sponsorship, and pay-per-lead fees — commercial products that buy discovery and labelled placement. The Local Dentist Score is computed from published, checkable inputs only. That separation is a hard editorial and product rule, not a marketing slogan.
What the score actually uses
Four pillars: safety and regulation (CQC location and principal details where on file, inspection outcome when published), patient experience (attributed reviews only, Bayesian-shrunk), services and access (NHS acceptance, service breadth, access amenities, emergency availability), and price transparency (how many private price fields you publish, plus peer value when enough peers publish too). Missing data redistributes weight — absence is not treated as proof of poor care. Open action-needed inspections and unverified listings have transparent caps documented on the methodology page. None of those inputs is 'is this practice on Premium?'
What payment does buy
Visibility: higher placement in labelled comparison slots, featured city positions, enhanced profile fields, and included or pay-per-lead patient enquiries. Patients see badges such as Featured or Referral partner when a commercial relationship exists. That honesty matters — undisclosed paid ranking would break the comparison promise. If a practice wants a stronger score, the levers are real: publish accurate prices, keep register fields complete, invite genuine patient reviews, and improve access — not upgrade the Stripe subscription.
Why practice owners ask (and why patients should care)
Directories that quietly sell rankings destroy trust for everyone. We state the rule plainly for owners evaluating ROI and for patients reading a profile: a high score means the data supports it, not that someone paid more. For how to join on free or paid terms, see listing and pricing answers linked below. For the full pillar weights, gates, and register sources, read /methodology/.
People Also Ask
Can I pay to improve my Local Dentist Score?
No. Paid tiers never change scores. Improve the published data that feeds the pillars — verification, prices, services, and genuine reviews.
Are featured listings disclosed?
Yes. Sponsored and featured placement is labelled. Patients can tell when visibility has been purchased.
Do referral partnerships change match results?
No. The comparison wizard scores clinical and practical fit from patient answers and practice data. Partnerships affect commercial CTAs and disclosure, not the fairness of the match maths.
Where is this documented?
On our methodology page, which explains pillars, caps, register sources, and the paid-never-touches-scores rule in full.
Affiliate disclosure:The Local Dentist is free to use. We may earn a fee when you visit a referral partner or send a private-treatment enquiry. That never changes ratings, match results, or the prices you pay. Outbound partner links userel="sponsored". Seeaffiliate complianceandhow we make money.
This article is general information for UK patients, not clinical advice, and NHS rules and charges change — confirm current rules on nhs.uk or speak to a dentist before acting. For severe facial swelling affecting breathing/swallowing, uncontrolled bleeding, or trauma call 999 / go to A&E; otherwise NHS 111 for urgent dental access. Price figures are indicative benchmarks from ourmethodology.