TL;DR: Plain language makes dental website pages easier for patients to understand, scan and act on. The Government of Canada's Canada.ca style guide offers concrete rules, such as sentences under 15 to 20 words and paragraphs of no more than three sentences, and the RCDSO's Advertising Guidelines bar statements that are unclear, untrue or misleading. This guide shows how Ontario dental practices can rewrite treatment pages without jargon and without breaking advertising rules.
How many of your patients could explain what "endodontic therapy is indicated for irreversible pulpitis" means after reading it once? It is easy for a clinical team to write treatment pages in clinical terms, for readers who do not think that way. The result is treatment pages that look authoritative but leave patients unsure what will happen, why it matters or what to do next.
As of October 2026, there is no shortage of credible guidance on fixing this. The Government of Canada publishes detailed plain-language rules for its own websites, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) defines a reading-level criterion in its accessibility guidelines, and the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO) sets the boundaries for what your practice may say. Here is how to put them together for a practice in Toronto, Markham, Vaughan or anywhere in the GTA.
Why Does Plain Language Matter for Dental Marketing?
A patient who lands on your root canal page from a Google search is usually trying to answer three questions: what is this, will it hurt, and what happens next? If the first paragraph opens with terminology, you risk losing them before they reach the answer. Plain language does not dumb down your expertise. It makes it usable.
It also carries a compliance angle. The RCDSO's Advertising Guidelines say advertising must not include "statements which are unclear, untrue or misleading." A page so dense with jargon that a typical patient cannot follow it is harder to defend as clear.
What Does the Canada.ca Style Guide Recommend?
The Canada.ca Content Style Guide, published by the Government of Canada at design.canada.ca, is written for Government of Canada websites, but its readability rules translate well to any website that serves the public. The most useful ones for dental pages:
- Start with the most important information. The guide says to "start with the most important idea, step or information."
- Keep sentences short. It advises breaking up long sentences and notes that under 15 to 20 words is optimal.
- Keep paragraphs short. One main idea per paragraph, and no more than three sentences.
- Choose familiar words. The guide recommends words a broad audience understands and uses, and notes that simple words have two syllables or less.
- Write in the active voice and in the positive form.
- Avoid jargon. It warns that legal and technical terms confuse most people.
- Use headings to divide text into logical sections approximately every 200 words.
- Use short vertical lists, aiming for a maximum of seven items.
One caution from the same guide: it does not set a grade-level target, and it says readability tools cannot tell you whether your audience will find your content easy to understand and use. Treat a readability score as a smoke alarm, not a verdict.
Is There an Accessibility Standard for Reading Level?
Yes, but only at Level AAA. The W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) include success criterion 3.1.5, Reading Level. When text requires reading ability more advanced than the lower secondary education level, the criterion asks for supplemental content or a simpler version. The W3C's explanation of the criterion ties lower secondary education to roughly nine years of school. It is a Level AAA criterion.
That level matters in Ontario. According to the Government of Ontario, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) requires public websites to meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA if the organization is a designated public sector organization or a business or non-profit with 50 or more employees. Because Reading Level is a Level AAA criterion, it sits above the Level AA standard that page describes. In other words, plain language is good practice for every practice website, but the reading-level criterion itself is not part of that AODA website requirement.
Pro Tip: Use "about nine years of school" as a practical writing benchmark for your treatment pages, and keep clinical detail in a clearly labelled section further down for patients who want it. That mirrors the supplemental-content approach WCAG describes.
How to Rewrite a Dental Treatment Page in Plain Language
1. Answer the patient's first question in the first sentence
Lead with what the treatment is and what it does for the patient. Save history, materials and technique for later sections.
2. Replace or explain every clinical term
Swap "periodontal disease" for "gum disease" where you can. Where a term matters, such as "crown" or "implant," explain it the first time in a few familiar words.
3. Break the page into question-style headings
Headings such as "Does a root canal hurt?" or "How long does an implant take?" make pages easier to scan. They also match the way patients type and speak their searches, which can support your dental SEO in Toronto and the wider GTA.
4. Turn steps into short lists
Appointment steps, aftercare instructions and what-to-bring items work better as short vertical lists than as paragraphs.
5. Read it aloud, then test it with a real person
Ask a team member who is not a clinician, or a willing family member, to read the page and explain it back. If they cannot, rewrite it.
Pro Tip: Rewrite one high-traffic page per week, starting with the pages Google Search Console shows patients land on most. Five weeks gets your most-visited pages done without a full website overhaul.
What Must Ontario Dentists Avoid When Rewriting Website Copy?
Plain language should never become marketing language. The RCDSO's Advertising Guidelines set firm limits that apply to anything your rewrite adds:
- No testimonials or any statement that can only be verified by a person's personal feelings or views. Do not paste patient quotes into a page to make it feel friendlier.
- No superlative or comparative terms, such as "state of the art" or "cutting edge." Simple words are the goal, but the guidelines also rule out other words that suggest a higher quality of services, equipment, technology, products or people.
- No incentive programs, including giveaways, contests, draws or free products or services.
- No unclear, untrue or misleading statements. Simplifying must not overstate results or understate risks.
The RCDSO also directs dentists to personally control all printed and electronic material about their practice made available to the public. If an agency or a team member rewrites your pages, the guidelines still expect you to personally control what is published. When a phrase feels like a grey area, check it against the RCDSO guidelines or contact the RCDSO before it goes live.
Where Plain Language Fits in Your Marketing Plan
Plain-language pages support the rest of your dental practice marketing in Toronto and the GTA. Clearer pages make it easier for patients to understand what you offer, and question-style headings and direct answers give search engines and AI assistants cleaner text to work with. Pair this work with an accurate Google Business Profile and a fast, accessible site, and every channel you already use has a better page to send patients to.
Sources
- Government of Canada. Canada.ca Content Style Guide.
- W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. Understanding Success Criterion 3.1.5: Reading Level.
- Government of Ontario. How to make websites accessible.
- Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario. Advertising Guidelines.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What reading level should a dental website be written at?
There is no single mandated level. The W3C's WCAG Reading Level criterion (3.1.5, Level AAA) uses the lower secondary education level, about nine years of school, as its benchmark for when simpler content should be offered. The Canada.ca style guide sets no grade target and focuses instead on short sentences, familiar words and clear structure.
Q: Does the AODA require plain language on dental websites?
Not directly. According to the Government of Ontario, the AODA requires designated public sector organizations and businesses or non-profits with 50 or more employees to meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA on public websites. The Reading Level criterion is Level AAA, above that standard.
Q: Can I add patient testimonials to make my website more relatable?
No, not if you practise in Ontario. The RCDSO's Advertising Guidelines prohibit testimonials or any statement that can only be verified by a person's personal feelings or views. Make pages relatable with clear explanations and question-style headings instead.
Which treatment page on your website would your patients struggle with most? Start there. For more guides written for Canadian dental teams, visit the EBIKO Dental blog.