Dental Care Ireland Limerick
According to our open methodology, this clinic scored 59.4/100 for transparency, reputation, service accessibility, and digital visibility.
Overall rank: #16 of 20 ranked clinics · Last checked: 8 September 2026
59.4/100
Positions by Rating Profile
- Overall Transparency & Trust#1659.4/100
- Best for Expats#1752.8/100
- Best for Dental Implants#1553.5/100
- Best for Emergency Dental Care#1154.3/100
- Best Price Transparency#1840/100
- Best English-speaking Clinics#1555.5/100
- 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.
- ✗ General anaesthesia / deep sedation (sleep dentistry) — No general anaesthesia or deep sedation documented [s1]
Summary
Branch of the Dental Care Ireland network in Dooradoyle, Limerick, with a two-dentist local roster and an extensive treatment-page structure (implants, orthodontics, emergencies, children’s dentistry); no prices are published on any page checked.
Strengths
- Information Transparency: 18 of 20 points.
- Reputation & Reviews: 18 of 20 points.
- No red flags identified in public sources.
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
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 Branch team page names Dr Cathal O’Donoghue and Dr Sheila Giz, each captioned "...Dentist at Dental Care Ireland Limerick" (filial-specific, not a company-wide roster). [s2] | 3/3 |
| ✗ | Dentist specializations listed Checked: both are titled plain "Dentist" with no stated specialty. [s2] | 0/2 |
| ✓ | Real clinic photos Verified visually on the clinic's Google place page on 2026-09-08: the lead photograph shows eight of the practice's own staff standing behind its reception desk in the group's branded blue and navy scrubs, with the Dental Care Ireland mark on the wall behind them and the surgery door at the left. Team, premises and signage of this clinic on its own claimed profile. [gmp2] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Service list published Deep treatment-page structure: general treatments (exam, cleaning, x-rays, dentures, fillings, children’s dentistry, extractions, crowns, bridges, gum shields, gum treatments, root canal, emergencies), cosmetic treatments (veneers, bonding, whitening, Invisalign) and a dedicated implants page. [s1] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Clear contact details [s1] [gmp1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | English website version [s1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Address and map published Own schema.org Dentist markup ("Dooradoyle House, Dooradoyle Road, Dooradoyle, Limerick, V94 HW6E") matches the Google Maps listing. [s1] [gmp1] | 2/2 |
Price Transparency
0 / 15
Whether patients can estimate costs before visiting. Published price ranges count; exact prices are not required.
| ✗ | Prices or price ranges published Checked the practice homepage, the network-wide "Dental Fees" page, and an individual treatment page (fillings) — no price figure is published anywhere on the site; pricing is enquiry-only. [s1] [s3] [s4] | 0/3 |
| ✗ | Cleaning price listed [s1] | 0/2 |
| ✗ | Filling price listed [s4] | 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
18 / 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 — 264 five-star, 8 four-star, 1 three-star, 0 two-star and 8 one-star — sums to 281, matching the 281 in the place-page header exactly, and its weighted mean 4.851 reproduces the published 4.9. [gmp1] [gmp2] | 6/6 |
| ◐ | 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 281 and the listing has not moved since. [gmp1] [gmp2] | 2.5/3 |
| ✓ | Review recency The newest review visible is 1 month old, which proves the within_3_months bucket and no better. Visible dates: 1 month, 2 months, three entries at 3 months (two edited), one at 4 months, one at 7 months and one at 10 months. 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] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Clinic responds to reviews The owner answers three 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 No critical account is readable in the visible sample: seven of the eight reviews are five-star and the eighth is a four-star with no stated reservation; they describe root-canal treatment, examinations and children's visits under named clinicians. Eight one-star ratings exist in the distribution and Google's relevance ordering surfaces none of them, while the histogram's star filters do not filter the review list, so their subject cannot be established. One- and two-star ratings together are 8 of 281, 2.8 % of the base, well below the 25 % at which the methodology's rule withholds a verdict, so the value is recorded false with the unread mass stated. 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 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 264/8/1/0/8 keeps a four-star tail and eight unpruned one-star ratings under a published 4.9, which is an ordinary shape rather than a wall. All eight visible reviews fall inside ten months, which on a base of 281 is where the newest reviews are; the accounts name six different people at the practice (Dr Sheila Giz, Dr Keogh, Francheca and the receptionists Eilis, Melissa and Saoirse), run from one line to a paragraph, and the owner answers three of the eight, which is not the behaviour of a curated record. [gmp2] | 2/2 |
| ? | Active Facebook presence The practice's page links only the Dental Care Ireland group page (facebook.com/dentalcareireland), which covers the whole network rather than this practice (checked 2026-10-02); not established. | 0/1 |
| ✗ | TripAdvisor presence No TripAdvisor listing found via its search for "Dental Care Ireland Limerick" and "Dental Care Ireland"; the clinic's site does not link to TripAdvisor. [dental-care-ireland-limerick-presence] [dental-care-ireland-limerick-presence-2] [dental-care-ireland-limerick-presence-3] | 0/0.5 |
| ✓ | Other review platforms WhatClinic: profile 'Dental Care Ireland Limerick' at Dooradoyle House, Dooradoyle Road (V94 HW6E), with the practice's own description and opening hours; no reviews yet. [dental-care-ireland-limerick-presence-4] | 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 | 0/2 |
| ? | CBCT (3D imaging) | 0/2 |
| ✓ | Implantology Dedicated "Dental Implants Limerick" specialist-treatments page. [s1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Orthodontics Dedicated "Invisalign Limerick" page. [s1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Oral surgery Dedicated Extractions page. [s1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Pediatric dentistry Dedicated Children’s Dentistry page. [s1] | 1.5/1.5 |
| ✓ | Emergency care Dedicated "Dental Emergencies" page. [s1] | 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 09:30–17:30, 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
6 / 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 Rank 8 of 9 for "best dentist Limerick Ireland" (AV-2 re-run, 2026-09-07). [av1] | 1/1 |
| ✓ | Mentioned for: English speaking dentist Ireland Rank 5 of 8 for "English speaking dentist Limerick" (AI-visibility pass, 2026-09-07). [av3] | 1/1 |
| ✗ | Mentioned for: dental implants Ireland [av2] | 0/1 |
| ✓ | Mentioned for: emergency dentist Ireland Rank 2 of 7 for "emergency dentist Limerick" (AI-visibility pass, 2026-09-07) — its own /dental-emergencies/ 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); Limerick was not queried for this key. | 0/1 |
| ✓ | Structured data on website Own schema.org markup, type "Dentist", with name, description, openingHours, telephone, email, full postal address and priceRange. [s1] | 1.5/1.5 |
| ? | Google indexing quality | 0/2 |
| ✓ | Dedicated service pages Deeply subdivided treatment pages, one per procedure. [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
| Dentist | Specialization | Licence No. |
|---|---|---|
| Dr Cathal O’Donoghue [reg1] [s2] | — | not found in the public register (checked 7 September 2026) |
| Dr Sheila Giz [reg2] [s2] | — | IDC 17724 |
One or more named dentists could not be found in the public register on the date checked — recorded as unverified, no penalty.
Red Flags
No red flags identified in the public sources we reviewed.
Data We Could Not Verify
- Reputation & Reviews: Active Facebook presence
- Medical Infrastructure: On-site X-ray
- Medical Infrastructure: CBCT (3D imaging)
- 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://www.dentalcareireland.ie/practices/dentist-limerick/ |
|---|---|
| Phone | +353 61 484 844 |
| Google Maps | Map listing |
| Address | Dooradoyle House, Dooradoyle Road, Dooradoyle, Limerick, V94 HW6E, 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://www.dentalcareireland.ie/practices/dentist-limerick/ | Practice homepage: schema.org Dentist markup, full treatment-page nav | 2026-09-07 |
| s2 | https://www.dentalcareireland.ie/practices/dentist-limerick/dental-… | Own-site 'Dental Team Limerick' page (not previously fetched by an earlier read) names this dentist (read 2026-09-10): 'Dr Cathal O'Donoghue — General Dentist & Implants — IDC: 3795... Cathal is a native of Tipperary town and graduated from University College Cork in 1991... joined Dental Care Ireland in 2023.' Note for the record (not applied here): the site prints 'IDC: 3795' next to his name, which does not match this card's existing licenseNotFound research (full 2026-09-07 register read found no Cathal O'Donoghue entry, IDC 3795 not checked specifically) — flagged in a later report for the licence workstream, not resolved by this name-only pass. | 2026-09-10 |
| s3 | https://www.dentalcareireland.ie/dental-fees/ | Network-wide fees page checked, no prices published | 2026-09-07 |
| s4 | https://www.dentalcareireland.ie/practices/dentist-limerick/general… | Individual treatment page checked, no price published | 2026-09-07 |
| gmp1 | https://www.google.com/search?tbm=map&q=Dental%20Care%20Ireland%20L… | 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 |
| reg1 | https://www.dentalcouncil.ie/dentists?keyword_filter=O%27Donoghue | Dental Council Register of Dentists checked for Cathal O’Donoghue — not found among seven O’Donoghue entries | 2026-09-07 |
| reg2 | https://www.dentalcouncil.ie/dentists?keyword_filter=Giz | Dental Council Register of Dentists entry for Sheila Giz Castelao | 2026-09-07 |
| av1 | search:best dentist Limerick Ireland | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-07 |
| av2 | search:dental implants Limerick Ireland | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-07 |
| av3 | search:English speaking dentist Limerick | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-07 |
| av4 | search:emergency dentist Limerick | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-07 |
| gmp2 | https://www.google.com/maps/place/x/@52.636526,-8.6448587,17z/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/@52.636526,-8.6448587,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x485b5b6484a5e5cd:0x34cfe2ecb20cbd26!8m2!3d52.636526!4d-8.6448587?hl=en gives the listing name, address, telephone, website, business category, the published opening week and the lead owner photograph. The listing opens as «Dental Care Ireland Limerick», category Dental clinic, at Dooradoyle House, Dooradoyle Road, Dooradoyle, Limerick, V94 HW6E, telephone +353 61 484 844, website dentalcareireland.ie — the identifiers the card itself carries, so the place identifier resolves to this practice and not to a neighbour. | 2026-09-08 |
| dental-care-ireland-limerick-presence | https://www.tripadvisor.com/TypeAheadJson?action=API&query=Dental%2… | TripAdvisor's own search for "Dental Care Ireland Limerick", run 2026-10-02, returns 12 results, none of them this clinic (e.g. Gold Coast Holistic Dental Care, Carrara; Dental Solutions - CARE Esthetics, Bountiful; Limerick Ireland, Limerick) | 2026-10-02 |
| dental-care-ireland-limerick-presence-2 | https://www.tripadvisor.com/TypeAheadJson?action=API&query=Dental%2… | TripAdvisor's own search for "Dental Care Ireland", run 2026-10-02, returns 12 results, none of them this clinic (e.g. Gold Coast Holistic Dental Care, Carrara; Dental Solutions - CARE Esthetics, Bountiful; Platinum Dental Care, Livonia) | 2026-10-02 |
| dental-care-ireland-limerick-presence-3 | https://www.dentalcareireland.ie/practices/dentist-limerick/ | Clinic's website (home and contact pages) read 2026-10-02: no link to TripAdvisor | 2026-10-02 |
| dental-care-ireland-limerick-presence-4 | https://www.whatclinic.com/dentists/ireland/county-limerick/limeric… | WhatClinic, read 2026-10-02: profile 'Dental Care Ireland Limerick', Dooradoyle House, Dooradoyle Road, Dooradoyle, Co Limerick, V94 HW6E (the clinic's address), with a description written in the first person ("At Dental Care Ireland Limerick, our team believes prevention is better than cure"), treatments and opening hours; no ServiceScore and no patient reviews yet; reached by its own address, not shown in the Limerick listing | 2026-10-02 |
Change History
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-02 | Presence on review platforms checked 2026-10-02: no TripAdvisor listing; WhatClinic profile at Dooradoyle House. |
| 2026-09-10 | Name-verification pass 2026-09-10: both dentists confirmed via a previously-unfetched own-site 'Dental Team Limerick' bio page; Sheila Giz's site-published IDC number cross-checks exactly against the existing registry-sourced licence. |
| 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 (264/8/1/0/8 = 281, weighted mean 4.851), 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 (281); the Cathal O’Donoghue licenseNotFound re-tested against a full register download including Irish-language and spacing variants and confirmed; Sheila Giz re-confirmed under her registered double surname "Giz Castelao". |
| 2026-09-07 | Initial data collection: practice website (home, team, network fees page, one treatment page), Dental Council of Ireland Register of Dentists (Sheila Giz found; Cathal O’Donoghue checked and not found — recorded as licenseNotFound, not false), Google Maps automated lookup, 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.