Websites allowing patients to rate dentists are becoming common across Europe. While the CED supports patient feedback to help dentists maintain high standards and improve patient experience, we are concerned about the lack of control over websites that would ensure that the information provided is fair and accurate. The CED recommended a number of quality criteria for online evaluations of dentists and encouraged national dental associations to develop tools to ensure websites’ compliance.
Website content should comply with national and EU legislation on personal data protection. Dentists named on a website should be informed of the right to access and rectify data concerning them. Dentists should be given an opportunity to reply to comments and there should be protection against misleading claims and offensive comments. All contributions should be monitored and, where necessary, edited or removed.
To prevent the abuse of online evaluations as a means of unfair competition or advertising, website owners and financial supporters should be identified and a clear distinction should be made between content and advertising. Websites should include a declaration that all posts are based on personal opinions and patients should be required to confirm that they have personally received treatment on which they are commenting. While online evaluations may stay anonymous, contributors should be identifiable to the website owner through registration or other means of electronic identification.