Sandton Dental Studio
According to our open methodology, this clinic scored 42.3/100 for transparency, reputation, service accessibility, and digital visibility.
Overall rank: #2 of 18 ranked clinics · Last checked: 25 August 2026
Positions by Rating Profile
- Overall Transparency & Trust#242.3/100
- Best for Expats#340.5/100
- Best for Dental Implants#237.5/100
- Best for Emergency Dental Care#245/100
- Best Price Transparency#827.4/100
- Best English-speaking Clinics#344.5/100
- Best for Families / Children#246.9/100
- Sleep Dentistry (GA / deep sedation)not ranked
General Anaesthesia & Deep Sedation
Whether the clinic documents treatment under general anaesthesia or deep / twilight sedation — "sleep dentistry", where the patient is asleep and unaware (does not feel, see, or hear the procedure). Ordinary conscious sedation, where the patient stays awake and responsive, does not count here. This is informational and does not affect the transparency score.
- ? General anaesthesia / deep sedation (sleep dentistry) — Not verified No sedation/GA info found on own website (sandtondental.co.za).
Summary
Cosmetic and general dental practice at Grayston Shopping Centre, Sandton, led by Dr. Wynand van der Merwe. Services include implants, Invisalign/Spark aligners, CEREC crowns, veneers, whitening, emergency care and pediatric dentistry. Prices not published.
Strengths
- Information Transparency: 18 of 20 points.
Weaknesses
- Price Transparency: 0 of 15 verifiable points (missing: prices or price ranges published; cleaning price listed; filling price listed; crown price listed; implant price listed; consultation price listed; x-ray / imaging price listed)
Score Breakdown
Every criterion below is scored from public sources. ✓ verified yes · ✗ verified no / not found · ◐ partial · ? unverified (scores 0, not a negative finding).
Information Transparency
Whether basic facts about the clinic - its team, premises, services, and location - are publicly verifiable.
| ✓ | Has a working website [s1] | 4/4 |
| ✓ | Dentist names listed [s1] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Dentist specializations listed [s1] | 2/2 |
| ? | Real clinic photos | 0/2 |
| ✓ | Service list published [s1] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Clear contact details [s1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | English website version [s1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Address and map published [s1] | 2/2 |
Price Transparency
Whether patients can estimate costs before visiting. Published price ranges count; exact prices are not required.
| ✗ | Prices or price ranges published [s1] | 0/3 |
| ✗ | Cleaning price listed [s1] | 0/2 |
| ✗ | Filling price listed [s1] | 0/2 |
| ✗ | Crown price listed [s1] | 0/2 |
| ✗ | Implant price listed [s1] | 0/2 |
| ✗ | Consultation price listed [s1] | 0/2 |
| ✗ | X-ray / imaging price listed [s1] | 0/2 |
Reputation & Reviews
Public review signals. The Google rating is adjusted with a Bayesian prior (rating 4.0, weight 25) so a 5.0 from a handful of reviews does not outrank a 4.8 from hundreds.
| ◐ | Google rating (Bayesian-adjusted) as of 2026-08-25 [sandton-dental-studio-refresh] | 5/6 |
| ◐ | Google review volume [sandton-dental-studio-refresh] | 2/3 |
| ✓ | Review recency [sandton-dental-studio-refresh] | 3/3 |
| ? | Clinic responds to reviews | 0/2 |
| ? | No recurring complaints | 0/2 |
| ? | No suspicious review patterns | 0/2 |
| ✓ | Active Facebook presence [s1] | 1/1 |
| ? | TripAdvisor presence | 0/0.5 |
| ✓ | Other review platforms [s1] | 0.5/0.5 |
Medical Infrastructure
The range of publicly documented equipment and services. This measures documented availability, not clinical quality.
| ✓ | On-site X-ray [s1] | 2/2 |
| ? | CBCT (3D imaging) | 0/2 |
| ✓ | Implantology [s1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Orthodontics [s1] | 2/2 |
| ? | Oral surgery | 0/2 |
| ✓ | Pediatric dentistry [s1] | 1.5/1.5 |
| ✓ | Emergency care [s1] | 1.5/1.5 |
| ? | Works with international patients | 0/2 |
Communication & Service
How easy it is to contact the clinic, get answers, and book - especially for international patients.
| ? | WhatsApp / LINE available | 0/2 |
| ? | Response speed | 0/1.5 |
| ✓ | English spoken [s1] | 2.5/2.5 |
| ? | Pre-visit consultation possible | 0/1.5 |
| ✓ | Clear service explanations [s1] | 1/1 |
| ✓ | Convenient opening hours [s1] | 1.5/1.5 |
AI & Search Visibility
Whether the clinic is discoverable when patients search - including via AI assistants. Checked with fixed queries: "best dentist Johannesburg", "English speaking dentist Johannesburg", "dental implants Johannesburg", "emergency dentist Johannesburg", "Johannesburg dental clinic for expats".
| ? | Mentioned for: best dentist Johannesburg | 0/1 |
| ? | Mentioned for: English speaking dentist Johannesburg | 0/1 |
| ? | Mentioned for: dental implants Johannesburg | 0/1 |
| ? | Mentioned for: emergency dentist Johannesburg | 0/1 |
| ? | Mentioned for: Johannesburg dental clinic for expats | 0/1 |
| ? | Structured data on website | 0/1.5 |
| ? | Google indexing quality | 0/2 |
| ? | Dedicated service pages | 0/1.5 |
Licensing & Credentials
Whether the clinic publishes its operating licence and the dentists working there together with their professional licence numbers. A verified “not published” is recorded as a red flag; data we have not checked yet is shown as unverified and carries no penalty.
Clinic operating licence: not checked against public sources yet — unverified, no penalty
Dentists & professional licences
| Dentist | Specialization | Licence No. |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Wynand van der Merwe [s1] [sandton-dental-studio-doclic] | Cosmetic and general dentistry | not published |
Dentists are named, but their professional licence numbers are not published — red flag applied.
Red Flags
- medium Dentists / their licences not listed (-4 pts) — The clinic does not publish its dentists with their professional licence numbers (derived from data).
- low Opaque or bait pricing (-2 pts) — No prices or price ranges published (derived from data).
Red-flag penalty applied: -6 points (capped at -20).
Data We Could Not Verify
- Information Transparency: Real clinic photos
- Reputation & Reviews: Clinic responds to reviews
- Reputation & Reviews: No recurring complaints
- Reputation & Reviews: No suspicious review patterns
- Reputation & Reviews: TripAdvisor presence
- Medical Infrastructure: CBCT (3D imaging)
- Medical Infrastructure: Oral surgery
- Medical Infrastructure: Works with international patients
- Communication & Service: WhatsApp / LINE available
- Communication & Service: Response speed
- Communication & Service: Pre-visit consultation possible
- AI & Search Visibility: Mentioned for: best dentist Johannesburg
- AI & Search Visibility: Mentioned for: English speaking dentist Johannesburg
- AI & Search Visibility: Mentioned for: dental implants Johannesburg
- AI & Search Visibility: Mentioned for: emergency dentist Johannesburg
- AI & Search Visibility: Mentioned for: Johannesburg dental clinic for expats
- AI & Search Visibility: Structured data on website
- AI & Search Visibility: Google indexing quality
- AI & Search Visibility: Dedicated service pages
Unverified items score 0 points but are not treated as negative findings. If you can document any of them, please send a correction.
Contact Information
| Website | https://sandtondental.co.za/ |
|---|---|
| Phone | 011 326 5153 |
| https://www.facebook.com/SandtonDentalStudio/ | |
| Google Maps | Map listing |
| Address | Unit 6 Upper Level, Grayston Shopping Centre, Corner Helen Road and Grayston Drive, Sandton, Johannesburg |
Contact details are provided for identification only and may change; verify with the clinic directly.
Sources
| ID | Source | What it supports | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| s1 | https://sandtondental.co.za/ | address, phone, services, dentist name, Facebook | 2026-07-14 |
| s2 | https://www.facebook.com/SandtonDentalStudio/ | Facebook page, reviews | 2026-07-14 |
| sandton-dental-studio-refresh | https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sandton+Dental+Studio-Dr+Wynand+v… | most recent review shown as posted '3 months ago' (viewed 2026-08-25) | 2026-08-25 |
| sandton-dental-studio-doclic | https://hpcsaonline.custhelp.com/app/i_reg_form | No match on HPCSA iRegister (Register=DENTIST, open access). Variant 1: Surname='van der Merwe' (Wildcard) — all 83 matching records across 17 result pages reviewed in full; no 'Wynand' among them. Variant 2: Fullname='Wynand' (Wildcard) — all 14 matching records across 3 pages reviewed; none surnamed van der Merwe (closest were van der Linden/van der Linde, different surnames). No HPCSA-registered dentist named Wynand van der Merwe found (accessed 2026-08-25). | 2026-08-25 |
Change History
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026-08-25 | License verification 2026-08-25 against HPCSA iRegister (Dentist Register, open access): exhaustively searched 2 name variants for Dr. Wynand van der Merwe (full surname-scan of 83 'van der Merwe' records; full fullname-scan of 14 'Wynand' records); no matching practitioner found — recorded verified false per policy. |
| 2026-08-25 | Re-verification 2026-08-25: confirmed website, address, phone unchanged and clinic open; captured first Google rating 4.7 (104 reviews, latest review ~3 months ago). |
A question or a correction?
Have a question, a suggestion, or a correction to this page? Get in touch — we read every message. Verified data corrections are reviewed against sources and applied with a public change-history entry.