North Carolina Advertising Rules for Health Practices
This brief summarizes how North Carolina regulates advertising by licensed medical, dental, chiropractic, and med spa practices. Every entry cites a board position statement, administrative rule, or statute we fetched and read. Educational summary only, not legal advice.
Verified against North Carolina Medical Board sources, 2026-07-02
Educational summary for practice owners. Not legal advice.
False or misleading advertising (physicians)
NC Medical Board Position Statement 8.3.1 treats deceptive, false, or misleading advertising as unprofessional conduct under the Medical Practice Act. Advertisements must not contain false representations directly or by implication, must not omit material facts, and licensees must be able to support any claim made. The Board also cautions physicians against creating unrealistic medical expectations or implying they possess exclusive capabilities.
NCMB Position Statement 8.3.1 (amended July 2021) checked 2026-07-02
Testimonials, patient photos, and online reviews
Position Statement 8.3.1 states that licensees must not publish fabricated patient endorsements for self-promotion, and that patient images should depict the physician's actual patients and genuine results rather than idealized outcomes. It also directs licensees to make reasonable efforts to correct false or misleading information once they become aware of it, including on rating websites and other public platforms.
NCMB Position Statement 8.3.1 checked 2026-07-02
Board-certified and specialty claims
Under Position Statement 8.3.1, a physician should not advertise as board certified without current certification from a recognized body such as ABMS, AOA-BOS, RCPSC, or a board meeting the specified criteria. Advertisements that reference certification are expected to identify the certifying board, and physicians must keep documentation of current certification and provide it on the Board's request.
NCMB Position Statement 8.3.1 checked 2026-07-02
Laser and med spa delegation and supervision
Position Statement 5.1.2 defines the revision, destruction, incision, or other structural alteration of tissue using laser technology as surgery. It states that laser procedures should be performed by a physician or a licensed health professional acting within scope and under physician supervision, that the supervising physician provides oversight before and after the procedure and should be on site or readily available, and that each patient be examined by a physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner before the first laser hair or tattoo removal treatment.
NCMB Position Statement 5.1.2 Laser Surgery (amended May 2021) checked 2026-07-02
Dental advertising: false or misleading communications
Dental Board rule 21 NCAC 16P .0101 prohibits false or misleading communications about a dentist or the dentist's services. A communication violates the rule if it materially misrepresents fact, misleads through partial disclosure of relevant facts, creates false or unjustified expectations of favorable results, makes unsubstantiated claims of superiority, or otherwise is likely to deceive an ordinary prudent person.
21 NCAC 16P .0101 Communications Concerning Dental Services checked 2026-07-02
Dental advertising: name-in-ad and fee/discount rules
Rule 21 NCAC 16P .0102 requires dental advertisements to prominently contain the name of each dentist whose services are advertised and to state whether each is a general dentist or a specialist. Rule 21 NCAC 16P .0103 governs fee advertising: fee ranges require disclosure of the basic factors determining actual fees, related services carrying additional fees must be specified, and if discounts are advertised the amount must be stated with a standard fee list available on request.
21 NCAC 16P .0102 and .0103 checked 2026-07-02
Chiropractic advertising and title designation
G.S. 90-154.2 makes it unethical conduct for a chiropractor to omit the words Chiropractic Physician, Chiropractor, or the initials D.C. in conjunction with the licensee's name on signs, letterheads, business cards, advertising, and other identification, and it incorporates the Board's Rules of Ethics of Advertising and Publicity. The statute also treats billing a third-party payor for a service the doctor advertised as free as unethical conduct.
N.C. Gen. Stat. 90-154.2 (Unethical conduct) checked 2026-07-02
What this means by practice type
Med spas
Med spa marketing for laser and injectable-adjacent services sits under both the general advertising standard and the laser supervision framework. Position Statement 5.1.2 frames laser tissue alteration as surgery requiring physician oversight and a pre-treatment exam, so advertising should not imply that unsupervised or purely technician-delivered treatment is the standard, and before/after imagery is governed by Position Statement 8.3.1's actual-patient and genuine-results expectations.(NCMB Position Statements 5.1.2 and 8.3.1)
Dental
Dental practices carry the most prescriptive advertising rules of the boards reviewed. Ads must name the dentist and state general-dentist or specialist status prominently, discount claims must state the discount amount with a standard fee list available on request, and testimonials may not be false or misleading or reveal a patient's identity without consent under 21 NCAC 16P .0104.(21 NCAC 16P .0102, .0103, .0104)
Chiropractic
Chiropractic advertising must carry the licensee's professional designation (Chiropractic Physician, Chiropractor, or D.C.) alongside the name, and services promoted as free cannot then be billed to a third-party payor. Auto-accident marketing has a separate constraint under 21 NCAC 10 .0303, which restricts direct personal or telephone solicitation of collision victims for 90 days and requires mailed solicitations to be labeled as advertisements for chiropractic services.(N.C. Gen. Stat. 90-154.2 and 21 NCAC 10 .0303)
Longevity / GLP-1 and medical wellness
The NC Medical Board's rules reviewed here do not publish a GLP-1 or longevity-specific advertising standard, so these practices default to Position Statement 8.3.1: claims must be supportable, must not omit material facts, and must not create unrealistic expectations or imply exclusive capability. Weight-loss or hormone-outcome promises and testimonial imagery are read against that general false-or-misleading standard.(NCMB Position Statement 8.3.1)
Telehealth posture
NC Medical Board Position Statement 5.1.4 holds telemedicine practitioners to the same standard of care as in-person care, with no separate virtual standard, and states that when virtual means cannot meet that standard, telemedicine is inappropriate. A practitioner generally must hold North Carolina licensure to treat patients located in the state, must verify patient identity and location before an encounter, and prescriptions issued via telemedicine carry the same professional accountability as those from an in-person encounter.
NCMB Position Statement 5.1.4 Telemedicine (amended March 2024) checked 2026-07-02
Markets in North Carolina
Common questions
Can North Carolina practices advertise discounts or free services?
For dentists, 21 NCAC 16P .0103 permits advertising discounts if the ad states the discount amount and the dentist keeps a standard fee list available on request. For chiropractors, G.S. 90-154.2 makes it unethical to bill a third-party payor for a service the doctor advertised as free. The Medical Board's Position Statement 8.3.1 does not set a discount-specific rule, so physician discount claims are read against its general false-or-misleading standard.
Are patient testimonials and before/after photos allowed?
The NC Medical Board's Position Statement 8.3.1 does not ban testimonials outright but prohibits fabricated endorsements and expects patient images to show the physician's actual patients and genuine results. For dentists, 21 NCAC 16P .0104 prohibits false or misleading testimonials and bars revealing a patient's identity without consent. Confirm current requirements with the relevant board before publishing.
Who can perform and advertise laser treatments at a med spa?
Position Statement 5.1.2 treats laser tissue alteration as surgery performed by a physician or a supervised licensed professional within scope, with a pre-treatment exam by a physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner before the first laser hair or tattoo removal. Advertising should reflect this supervision structure rather than imply an unsupervised standard of care.
Marketing that survives your board
The free growth audit includes a compliance read of your current site and ads against your state's advertising rules.