Cork Dental Smiles
According to our open methodology, this clinic scored 63.9/100 for transparency, reputation, service accessibility, and digital visibility.
Overall rank: #15 of 20 ranked clinics · Last checked: 8 September 2026
63.9/100
Positions by Rating Profile
- Overall Transparency & Trust#1563.9/100
- Best for Expats#1456.8/100
- Best for Dental Implantsnot ranked
- Best for Emergency Dental Care#1055.7/100
- Best Price Transparency#1573.1/100
- Best English-speaking Clinics#1655.2/100
- Best for Families / Children#1359/100
- 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.
Summary
General, cosmetic and orthodontic practice on St Patrick’s Hill in Cork City centre, established 2014 by Dr Maria Byrne, with a two-dentist team and a fully itemised price list covering exams through orthodontic aligners and braces.
Strengths
- Information Transparency: 18 of 20 points.
- Price Transparency: 13 of 15 points.
- No red flags identified in public sources.
Weaknesses
- AI & Search Visibility: 2.5 of 7 verifiable points (missing: mentioned for: best dentist Ireland; mentioned for: English speaking dentist Ireland; mentioned for: dental implants Ireland; structured data on website)
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
18 / 20
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 About page names Dr. Maria Byrne (founder, 2014) and Dr. Nina Hjalmers. [s2] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Dentist specializations listed Dr. Maria Byrne’s qualifications include "MSc Orth" and her bio states "a particular interest in orthodontics for children and adults". [s2] | 2/2 |
| ? | Real clinic photos Looked at on the clinic's Google place page on 2026-09-08 and left unassessed rather than credited. The lead image is a tight cosmetic close-up of a young woman's mouth wearing fixed braces, cropped so that no face, room or equipment is identifiable — the marketing register of a stock orthodontic picture, and in any case showing nothing of this practice. Under the methodology's rule the test is premises, signage, team or equipment. The clinic's own website was not opened for this purpose in this pass, so the field stays null rather than false. [gmp2] | 0/2 |
| ✓ | Service list published Nav covers General Dentistry (preventative care, hygienist, fissure sealants, root canal, extraction, dentures) and Cosmetic Dentistry (crowns/bridges, inlays/onlays, whitening, veneers, white fillings), plus a fully itemised price list including orthodontics. [s1] [s3] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Clear contact details [s1] [gmp1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | English website version [s1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Address and map published "12A Saint Patrick’s Hill, Cork, T23 VP04" on the clinic’s own page matches the Google Maps listing. [s2] [gmp1] | 2/2 |
Price Transparency
13 / 15
Whether patients can estimate costs before visiting. Published price ranges count; exact prices are not required.
| ✓ | Prices or price ranges published Permanent, itemised price list of well over 30 procedures across general dentistry, root canal, extractions, fillings, x-rays, orthodontics, retainers, and restorative/cosmetic dentistry. [s3] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Cleaning price listed Scale & Polish €80 (PRSI €15); Child Hygiene Appointment €50. [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Filling price listed Composite €150–190; Amalgam €120–150. [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Crown price listed Crowns €850–1,100. [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✗ | Implant price listed Checked the full nav and price list — the word "implant" does not appear anywhere on the site; the practice does not appear to offer implants. [s1] [s3] | 0/2 |
| ✓ | Consultation price listed Examination €40 (PRSI free); Child Examination €30; free orthodontic consultation. [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | X-ray / imaging price listed Intra-Oral Single €20; OPG Panoramic X-Ray €70. [s3] | 2/2 |
Reputation & Reviews
12.5 / 20
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) Read live on the place page in a browser on 2026-09-08. Unchanged from the automated reading of 2026-09-07. The star histogram — 32 five-star, 1 four-star, 1 three-star, 1 two-star and 4 one-star — sums to 39, matching the 39 in the place-page header exactly, and its weighted mean 4.436 reproduces the published 4.4. [gmp1] [gmp2] | 3/6 |
| ◐ | Google review volume Read live on 2026-09-08 from the place-page header, and the star histogram sums to the same figure. The card held 39 and the listing has not moved since. [gmp1] [gmp2] | 1/3 |
| ✓ | Review recency Newest Google review is dated 2026-09-23 (listing read 2026-09-26). [cork-dental-smiles-cork-gbp-2026-09-26] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Clinic responds to reviews The owner answers four of the reviews visible on the place page on 2026-09-08. Sample: the eight reviews Google Maps renders on the place page in its own relevance order — the "Newest" sort does not open to automation, so a review more recent than the newest one visible may exist. [gmp2] | 2/2 |
| ? | No recurring complaints | 0/2 |
| ✓ | No suspicious review patterns Judged on the histogram shape, the spread of dates, the variety of reviewers and the wording, on 2026-09-08. The distribution 32/1/1/1/4 has a rating in every bucket, which is not a manufactured shape, and the visible dates spread from five months to a year. One feature of the visible sample is recorded for the reader rather than scored: seven of the eight are completed orthodontic courses — braces, Damon braces, Invisalign — all naming the same principal, Dr Maria Byrne, which is what the review base of a practice Google files under «Orthodontist» looks like, and means the sample says little about its general dentistry. The owner answers four of the eight individually and by name. [gmp2] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Active Facebook presence [s1] | 1/1 |
| ✗ | TripAdvisor presence No TripAdvisor listing found via its search for "Cork Dental Smiles" and "Dental Smiles"; the clinic's site does not link to TripAdvisor. [cork-dental-smiles-cork-presence] [cork-dental-smiles-cork-presence-2] [cork-dental-smiles-cork-presence-3] | 0/0.5 |
| ✓ | Other review platforms WhatClinic: rating 5.0 from 1 review; Trustpilot: TrustScore 2.5 from 5 reviews. [cork-dental-smiles-cork-deepen] [cork-dental-smiles-cork-deepen-2] | 0.5/0.5 |
Medical Infrastructure
9 / 15
The range of publicly documented equipment and services. This measures documented availability, not clinical quality.
| ✓ | On-site X-ray [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✗ | CBCT (3D imaging) [s1] [s3] | 0/2 |
| ✗ | Implantology Checked the full nav and price list — no implant service found anywhere on the site. [s1] [s3] | 0/2 |
| ✓ | Orthodontics Substantial orthodontics section on the price list: Invisalign/Spark/Angel aligners, Damon (metal/clear) braces, Six Month Smiles, retainers. [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Oral surgery Non-Surgical and Surgical Extraction, Wisdom Tooth Extraction priced. [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Pediatric dentistry "Child Examination €30" and "Child Hygiene Appointment €50" published on the price list. [s3] | 1.5/1.5 |
| ✓ | Emergency care "Emergency Appointment €50" on the price list, and a homepage callout: "Emergency Appointments Available... Call us on 021 450 1801." [s3] | 1.5/1.5 |
| ? | Works with international patients | 0/2 |
Communication & Service
2.5 / 10
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 | 0/1 |
| ✗ | Convenient opening hours Settled from null on 2026-09-08: the clinic's own Google Business Profile publishes the full week — Monday to Friday 09:00–17:00, Saturday and Sunday closed. Under the rule this index applies to every card — evening hours credited only from a close at 19:00 or later on at least one weekday, or any weekend opening — that is a checked negative rather than an unassessed field. [gmp2] | 0/1.5 |
AI & Search Visibility
2.5 / 10
Whether the clinic is discoverable when patients search - including via AI assistants. Checked with fixed queries: "best dentist Ireland", "English speaking dentist Ireland", "dental implants Ireland", "emergency dentist Ireland", "Ireland dental clinic for expats".
| ✗ | Mentioned for: best dentist Ireland [av1] | 0/1 |
| ✗ | Mentioned for: English speaking dentist Ireland [av3] | 0/1 |
| ✗ | Mentioned for: dental implants Ireland [av2] | 0/1 |
| ✓ | Mentioned for: emergency dentist Ireland Rank 7 of 7 for "emergency dentist Cork Ireland" (AI-visibility pass, 2026-09-07) — its dedicated /emergency/ page. [av4] | 1/1 |
| ? | Mentioned for: Ireland dental clinic for expats Query not run in AI-visibility pass — the single centralised canonical-query AI-visibility pass ran the "dental clinic for expats" query only for the first research city per country (Dublin); Cork was not queried for this key. | 0/1 |
| ✗ | Structured data on website Checked the homepage, the about page and the price list: only a generic WebPage/WebSite/BreadcrumbList/Organization JSON-LD graph with no address, phone or geo — no LocalBusiness/Dentist-equivalent markup. [s1] [s2] [s3] | 0/1.5 |
| ? | Google indexing quality | 0/2 |
| ✓ | Dedicated service pages Separate URLs per treatment, e.g. /general-dentistry/root-canal-treatment/, /cosmetic-dentistry/veneers/. [s1] | 1.5/1.5 |
Ranking leaders in AI answers
The queries above are this index's own check. The three leading clinics have also been measured in full: how often ChatGPT and Gemini name them when a patient asks them to recommend a dentist.
- #13Dental Limerick53.6 of 100View report →
- #2Portobello Dental Clinic39.6 of 100View report →
- #3Alexandra Dental Limerick60.8 of 100View report →
Measured by Ansmeter, 8 October 2026. Ansmeter is an affiliated service. Its figure is not part of this rating and does not affect positions — scores change only when public data changes.
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
Red Flags
No red flags identified in the public sources we reviewed.
Data We Could Not Verify
- Information Transparency: Real clinic photos
- Reputation & Reviews: No recurring complaints
- Medical Infrastructure: Works with international patients
- Communication & Service: WhatsApp / LINE available
- Communication & Service: Response speed
- Communication & Service: Pre-visit consultation possible
- Communication & Service: Clear service explanations
- AI & Search Visibility: Mentioned for: Ireland dental clinic for expats
- AI & Search Visibility: Google indexing quality
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://corkdentalsmiles.ie/ |
|---|---|
| Phone | +353 21 450 1801 |
| https://www.facebook.com/corkdentalsmiles | |
| Google Maps | Map listing |
| Address | 12A Saint Patrick’s Hill, Cork, T23 VP04, Ireland |
Contact details are provided for identification only and may change; verify with the clinic directly.
Sources
| ID | Source | What it supports | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| s1 | https://corkdentalsmiles.ie/ | Clinic homepage: nav, "Emergency Appointments Available" callout, social links | 2026-09-07 |
| s2 | https://corkdentalsmiles.ie/about/ | Named team page with qualifications/interests, address block | 2026-09-07 |
| s3 | https://corkdentalsmiles.ie/pricelist/ | Permanent itemised price list (general, endodontic, surgical, restorative, orthodontic) | 2026-09-07 |
| gmp1 | https://www.google.com/search?tbm=map&q=Cork%20Dental%20Smiles%2C%2… | Google Maps automated lookup: rating, geo, address, phone, website | 2026-09-07 |
| reg0 | https://www.hiqa.ie/find-a-centre | Confirms Ireland has no institutional/facility register covering private dental practices | 2026-09-07 |
| av1 | search:best dentist Cork Ireland | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-07 |
| av2 | search:dental implants Cork Ireland | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-07 |
| av3 | search:English speaking dentist Cork Ireland | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-07 |
| av4 | search:emergency dentist Cork Ireland | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-07 |
| reg1 | https://www.dentalcouncil.ie/dentists?keyword_filter=Byrne | Dental Council of Ireland, Register of Dentists — surname search for Dr Maria Byrne | 2026-09-07 |
| reg2 | https://www.dentalcouncil.ie/dentists?keyword_filter=Hjalmers | Dental Council of Ireland, Register of Dentists — surname search for Dr Nina Hjalmers | 2026-09-07 |
| gmp2 | https://www.google.com/maps/place/x/@51.9022003,-8.4697148,17z/data… | The clinic’s Google Maps place page, opened in a real browser on 2026-09-08. The Reviews tab (this URL) gives the headline rating, the review-count header, the five star-histogram buckets read whole from their accessibility labels, and the eight most-relevant reviews with their star values, dates, text and owner replies; the sibling Overview URL https://www.google.com/maps/place/x/@51.9022003,-8.4697148,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x4844900e7413e3af:0x56249c59f468c341!8m2!3d51.9022003!4d-8.4697148?hl=en gives the listing name, address, telephone, website, business category, the published opening week and the lead owner photograph. The listing opens as «Cork Dental Smiles», category Orthodontist, at 12A St Patrick's Place, St Patrick's Hill, Cork, T23 VP04, telephone +353 21 450 1801, website corkdentalsmiles.ie — the identifiers the card itself carries, so the place identifier resolves to this practice and not to a neighbour. | 2026-09-08 |
| cork-dental-smiles-cork-gbp-2026-09-26 | https://www.google.com/maps?cid=6207258096589914945&hl=en | Google listing read on 2026-09-26: rating 4.4 from 40 reviews; star histogram 1★ 5 / 2★ 1 / 3★ 1 / 4★ 1 / 5★ 32; newest review dated 2026-09-23. | 2026-09-26 |
| cork-dental-smiles-cork-deepen | https://www.whatclinic.com/dentists/ireland/county-cork/cork/cork-d… | WhatClinic: profile 'Cork Dental Smiles', 12A St Patrick's Place, Cork, rating 5.0 from 1 review (checked 2026-10-01) | 2026-10-01 |
| cork-dental-smiles-cork-deepen-2 | https://www.trustpilot.com/review/corkdentalsmiles.ie | Trustpilot: page 'Cork Dental Smiles' for corkdentalsmiles.ie, TrustScore 2.5 from 5 reviews (checked 2026-10-01) | 2026-10-01 |
| cork-dental-smiles-cork-presence | https://www.tripadvisor.com/TypeAheadJson?action=API&query=Cork%20D… | TripAdvisor's own search for "Cork Dental Smiles", run 2026-10-02, returns 12 results, none of them this clinic (e.g. Pop The Cork Wine Tours, Atlanta; Cork City Gaol, Cork; Delta Dental Stadium, Manchester) | 2026-10-02 |
| cork-dental-smiles-cork-presence-2 | https://www.tripadvisor.com/TypeAheadJson?action=API&query=Dental%2… | TripAdvisor's own search for "Dental Smiles", run 2026-10-02, returns 12 results, none of them this clinic (e.g. Delta Dental Stadium, Manchester; Doc Holliday Dental Office, Griffin; Bainbridge Dental Museum, Bainbridge - Ross County) | 2026-10-02 |
| cork-dental-smiles-cork-presence-3 | https://corkdentalsmiles.ie/ | Clinic's website (home and contact pages) read 2026-10-02: no link to TripAdvisor | 2026-10-02 |
Change History
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-02 | Presence on review platforms checked 2026-10-02: no TripAdvisor listing. |
| 2026-10-01 | Other review platforms re-checked on 2026-10-01: WhatClinic (rating 5.0 from 1 review); Trustpilot (TrustScore 2.5 from 5 reviews). |
| 2026-09-29 | Corrected 2026-09-29: no recurring complaints now unverified: 1–2★ ratings are 5 of 39 and the low reviews themselves were not read; review recency within 3 months (newest review dated 2026-09-23). |
| 2026-09-08 | Checked by hand in a browser: the clinic’s Google Maps place page was opened in a real browser and read on both its Reviews and Overview tabs. Recorded from it: the rating re-verified against the star histogram, the review count, the histogram itself (32/1/1/1/4 = 39, weighted mean 4.436), review recency, the owner-reply state, the complaint reading and the manipulation reading from the eight most-relevant reviews, the lead owner photograph and the full published opening week. Fields this pass did not measure are untouched. |
| 2026-09-07 | Adversarial verification: googleReviewCount read live (39); hasStructuredData settled null → false after checking three pages; both dentists found in a full download of the Register of Dentists — the initial data collection conclusion that "Byrne" could not be matched with confidence is disproven, exactly one Maria Byrne exists in the 4,003-row register. |
| 2026-09-07 | Initial data collection: clinic website (home, about, price list), Dental Council of Ireland Register of Dentists checked for "Byrne" (too many same-surname results to match with confidence, not the honest "checked, not found" state so left unchecked), Google Maps automated lookup (re-queried with full address), AI-visibility pass canonical-query file. |
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.