Oral care giant's ads labelled as 'significantly misleading'

In one instance, AI appears to have been used to show a woman performing dental work.

ABC NEWS Verify has found she is a sales professional from a Brisbane dental clinic engaged in a partnership with Hismile.

"It's significantly misleading," said Australian Dental Association (ADA) president Chris Sanzaro.

The ad featured a sales professional from a Brisbane dental clinic. ABC NEWS Verify has blurred the woman's face. (Meta)

"People watching those ads are going to be misled by that, people looking like a health professional, purporting to be a health professional, but they're not actually registered as one at all.

"It's really banking on the trust that's been built up in the profession by years and years of education … and trying to claim some of that, when there's no basis for that claim, is hugely disappointing."

Hismile also advertised a product using a clip of a woman who has been permanently banned from providing any health services by a state authority because she poses a risk to public safety.

In the same ad it used AI clips to show decayed teeth rapidly healing after a liquid substance was put on them.

It comes just weeks after the company was fined by the consumer watchdog for separate alleged false and misleading representations in its social media advertising.

One Hismile ad featured a woman dressed in the pink branded scrubs of a Brisbane dental practice talking about the benefits of a product.

The ad showed her talking to camera while wearing dental loupes, a magnification tool used by many dentists and dental hygienists to enhance their vision.

It then showed her performing dental work on a patient and later looking through a microscope. These shots show signs of AI generation.

The dental loupes and the patient's mouth are warped in the first shot. The staff member's ring switches hands, and the loupes are again warped in the second shot. Both shots have an unnatural skin sheen.

These shots in the Hismile ad showed signs of AI generation. (Meta / ABC NEWS Verify)

Despite appearances, the woman is not a dentist but a sales professional, and the practice's managing partner.

ABC NEWS Verify asked the clinic about the use of AI in the clips.

"[The practice] did not approve the alteration or manipulation of the relevant imagery in the manner shown," a statement said.

"The matter has been raised with Hismile, and [the practice] has requested immediate removal and clarification."

According to Meta's ad library, it ran from May 31 to June 22.

The ad carried a number of disclaimers in small text but only "Hismile partner endorseme