Gate Dental Clinic Galway
According to our open methodology, this clinic scored 80/100 for transparency, reputation, service accessibility, and digital visibility.
Overall rank: #4 of 20 ranked clinics · Last checked: 8 September 2026
80/100
Positions by Rating Profile
- Overall Transparency & Trust#480/100
- Best for Expats#470.8/100
- Best for Dental Implants#479.3/100
- Best for Emergency Dental Care#571.4/100
- Best Price Transparency#882/100
- Best English-speaking Clinics#468.3/100
- Best for Families / Children#575.2/100
- 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 Price list lists a dedicated "Orthodontic/Sedation/Implant/Oral Surgery/Restorative Consult" and "Sedation (per hour) €415", but does not state whether this is conscious/light sedation or deep/twilight sedation where the patient is "asleep and unaware" — left null rather than guessed. [s3]
Summary
General, cosmetic and implant practice on Dock Road, Galway, with a seven-dentist team and a fully itemised, tax-relief-annotated price list covering exams through implants, orthodontics and facial aesthetics. The clinic’s own hosted logo image is captioned "smiles-dental-gate-clinic", suggesting a past or parallel Smiles Dental network association; this note records the observation without asserting a dual identity.
Strengths
- Information Transparency: 20 of 20 points.
- Price Transparency: 13 of 15 points.
- Reputation & Reviews: 17.5 of 20 points.
- Medical Infrastructure: 13 of 15 points.
- No red flags identified in public sources.
Weaknesses
No category fell below the weakness threshold (50% of verifiable points).
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
20 / 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 Team page names Dr Pedro Alsina, Dr Brian Delgado, Dr Lauren McHugh, Dr Saifullah Khan, Dr Butros Faiud, Dr Gerry Meehan and Dr Paul Moore. [s2] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Dentist specializations listed Dr Saifullah Khan is described as "Dental Surgeon with Orthodontic Special Interest", MSc (UK); Dr Lauren McHugh and Dr Brian Delgado are named "Dental Surgeon". [s2] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Real clinic photos Verified visually on the clinic's Google place page on 2026-09-08: the lead photograph is one of the practice's own surgeries — a teal dental chair and operator stool, the delivery unit with its handpieces, an operating microscope on its arm, a wall-mounted screen and the clinic's cabinetry. Premises and equipment of this clinic on its own claimed profile. [gmp2] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Service list published Restorative dentistry, microscope dentistry, and a fully itemised price list across general/hygiene/whitening/fillings/root canal/extractions/dentures/veneers/bridges/orthodontics/implants/facial aesthetics. [s1] [s3] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Clear contact details [s1] [gmp1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | English website version [s1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Address and map published Own schema.org markup ("Dock Road, Galway, H91 K77F") matches the Google Maps listing. [s1] [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, tax-relief-annotated price list of well over 30 items. [s3] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Cleaning price listed Hygienist (per 30mins) €118; PRSI Scale and Polish €15. [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Filling price listed White Filling Composite from €165. [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✗ | Crown price listed Checked: the price-list section is headed "Veneers & Crowns – Cerec Technology" but only individual veneer prices (Composite Veneer, Porcelain Veneer from €1,150) are itemised underneath — no distinct crown price is actually listed despite the header. [s3] | 0/2 |
| ✓ | Implant price listed "Placement only €1,550" under Dental Implants (fixture-only price, separate from any restoration). [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Consultation price listed New Patient Consultation €125; Recall Examination €85. [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | X-ray / imaging price listed CBCT Scan from €200; Cephalometric €115; OPG €85. [s3] | 2/2 |
Reputation & Reviews
17.5 / 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 — 147 five-star, 6 four-star, 0 three-star, 2 two-star and 3 one-star — sums to 158, matching the 158 in the place-page header exactly, and its weighted mean 4.848 reproduces the published 4.8. [gmp1] [gmp2] | 5/6 |
| ◐ | 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 158 and the listing has not moved since. [gmp1] [gmp2] | 2/3 |
| ✓ | Review recency The newest review visible is 3 months old, which proves the within_3_months bucket and no better. Visible dates: 4 months, two entries at 3 months, one at 4 months, one at 8 months, one at 9 months and two at 1 year. 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 all eight 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 One critical account is readable and it is a four-star rather than a one- or two-star: a patient seen the same day for a sudden molar infection, whose account of the examination and X-ray breaks off at Google's truncation before the reservation behind the missing fifth star can be read. Three one-star and two two-star ratings exist in the distribution and none carries text that relevance ordering surfaces. One- and two-star ratings together are 5 of 158, 3.2 % of the base, well below the 25 % at which the methodology's rule withholds a verdict. 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 147/6/0/2/3 keeps a real four-star tail and a real negative tail under a published 4.8 and is not a wall. The visible dates spread from three months to a year, the accounts describe emergency treatment, retainer adjustment, veneer repair for a visiting patient and long-term care, they name three clinicians and a nurse (Dr Lauren, Dr Delgado, the nurse Stephanie), and the owner answers all eight individually. Nothing suggests solicited or purchased review activity. [gmp2] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Active Facebook presence [s1] | 1/1 |
| ✗ | TripAdvisor presence No TripAdvisor listing found via its search for "Gate Dental Clinic Galway" and "Gate dental"; the clinic's site does not link to TripAdvisor. [gate-dental-clinic-galway-presence] [gate-dental-clinic-galway-presence-2] [gate-dental-clinic-galway-presence-3] | 0/0.5 |
| ✓ | Other review platforms WhatClinic: rating 4.8 from 25 reviews. [gate-dental-clinic-galway-deepen] | 0.5/0.5 |
Medical Infrastructure
13 / 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) "CBCT Scan from €200" priced as an own service. [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Implantology [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Orthodontics Invisalign Full One/Two Arches priced. [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Oral surgery Complex/Surgical Extraction, Sinus Lift/Augmentation, Bone Grafts priced; consultation line explicitly covers "Oral Surgery". [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Pediatric dentistry Child Examination (under 6) €40; Child Examination (6+) €60. [s3] | 1.5/1.5 |
| ✓ | Emergency care The clinic’s own contact page publishes an "Emergencies" block: "Gate Clinic Patients, please call our triage service 091-547592 anytime between 8.30am-4.30pm for assistance", with a separate instruction for non-patients. Re-sourced away from the search-position pseudo-source the initial data collection had used; the initial data collection claim that the price list’s consultation line covers urgent/same-visit categories was checked and is not on that page. [s4] | 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 08:30–17:00, 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
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 5 of 7 for "best dentist Galway" (AI-visibility pass, 2026-09-07). [av1] | 1/1 |
| ✗ | Mentioned for: English speaking dentist Ireland A "smiles.ie/clinic/dentist-galway" result appears at rank 3 and its title describes Gate Dental Clinic content, but the URL is a different domain (smiles.ie, not gateclinic.com) — not counted as an appearance of this clinic’s own domain/name to avoid over-crediting a cross-domain listing. [av3] | 0/1 |
| ✓ | Mentioned for: dental implants Ireland Rank 8 of 8 for "dental implants Galway" (AI-visibility pass, 2026-09-07). [av2] | 1/1 |
| ✓ | Mentioned for: emergency dentist Ireland Rank 8 of 9 for "emergency dentist Galway" (AI-visibility pass, 2026-09-07); the ranking page is the clinic’s own contact page, which is where its emergency triage instructions are published. [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); Galway 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, priceRange and image — genuine LocalBusiness-equivalent markup. [s1] | 1.5/1.5 |
| ? | Google indexing quality | 0/2 |
| ✓ | Dedicated service pages Separate pages per treatment category (restorative dentistry, microscope dentistry, etc.). [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 Saifullah Khan [reg1] | Dental Surgeon with Orthodontic Special Interest | IDC 13414 |
| Dr Brian Delgado [reg2] | Dental Surgeon | IDC 5815 |
| Dr Lauren McHugh [reg3] [s2] | Dental Surgeon | IDC 12118 |
| Dr Pedro Alsina [reg4] | — | IDC 12022 |
| Dr Butros Faiud [reg5] | — | IDC 23023 |
| Dr Gerry Meehan [reg6] | — | not found in the public register (checked 7 September 2026) |
| Dr Paul Moore [reg7] | — | IDC 7297 |
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
- 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.gateclinic.com/ |
|---|---|
| Phone | +353 91 547 592 |
| https://www.facebook.com/Gate | |
| Google Maps | Map listing |
| Address | Gate Dental Clinic, Dock Road, Galway, H91 K77F, 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.gateclinic.com/ | Clinic homepage: schema.org Dentist markup (address/phone/hours), nav, social links | 2026-09-07 |
| s2 | https://www.gateclinic.com/meet-the-team/ | Own-site team page names this dentist, spelling the surname with a space: "Dr Lauren Mc Hugh BDS, Dental Surgeon" (also captioned on an embedded video and a team photo) (read 2026-09-10). | 2026-09-10 |
| s3 | https://www.gateclinic.com/ways-to-pay/price-list/ | Permanent itemised price list | 2026-09-07 |
| gmp1 | https://www.google.com/search?tbm=map&q=Gate%20Dental%20Clinic%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 |
| reg1 | https://www.dentalcouncil.ie/dentists?keyword_filter=Khan | Dental Council Register of Dentists entry for Saifullah Khan | 2026-09-07 |
| reg2 | https://www.dentalcouncil.ie/dentists?keyword_filter=Delgado | Dental Council Register of Dentists entry for Brian Delgado | 2026-09-07 |
| av1 | search:best dentist Galway | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-07 |
| av2 | search:dental implants Galway | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-07 |
| av3 | search:English speaking dentist Galway | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-07 |
| av4 | search:emergency dentist Galway | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-07 |
| s4 | https://www.gateclinic.com/contact/ | Clinic’s own contact page: "Emergencies" block (in-hours triage line for clinic patients) and published opening hours | 2026-09-07 |
| reg3 | https://www.dentalcouncil.ie/dentists?keyword_filter=McHugh | Dental Council of Ireland, Register of Dentists — surname search for Dr Lauren McHugh | 2026-09-07 |
| reg4 | https://www.dentalcouncil.ie/dentists?keyword_filter=Alsina | Dental Council of Ireland, Register of Dentists — surname search for Dr Pedro Alsina | 2026-09-07 |
| reg5 | https://www.dentalcouncil.ie/dentists?keyword_filter=Faiud | Dental Council of Ireland, Register of Dentists — surname search for Dr Butros Faiud | 2026-09-07 |
| reg6 | https://www.dentalcouncil.ie/dentists?keyword_filter=Meehan | Dental Council of Ireland, Register of Dentists — surname search for Dr Gerry Meehan (no matching entry) | 2026-09-07 |
| reg7 | https://www.dentalcouncil.ie/dentists?keyword_filter=Moore | Dental Council of Ireland, Register of Dentists — surname search for Dr Paul Moore | 2026-09-07 |
| gmp2 | https://www.google.com/maps/place/x/@53.2721588,-9.0492877,17z/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/@53.2721588,-9.0492877,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x485b96e50718d477:0xc1008889775632d4!8m2!3d53.2721588!4d-9.0492877?hl=en gives the listing name, address, telephone, website, business category, the published opening week and the lead owner photograph. The listing opens as «Gate Dental Clinic», category Dentist, at Dock Road, Galway, H91 K77F, telephone +353 91 547 592, website gateclinic.com — the identifiers the card itself carries, so the place identifier resolves to this practice and not to a neighbour. | 2026-09-08 |
| gate-dental-clinic-galway-deepen | https://www.whatclinic.com/dentists/ireland/county-galway/galway/ga… | WhatClinic: profile 'Gate Clinic', 25 Dock Road, Galway, rating 4.8 from 25 reviews (checked 2026-10-01) | 2026-10-01 |
| gate-dental-clinic-galway-presence | https://www.tripadvisor.com/TypeAheadJson?action=API&query=Gate%20D… | TripAdvisor's own search for "Gate Dental Clinic Galway", run 2026-10-02, returns 12 results, none of them this clinic (e.g. Viet Han Dental Clinic, Nha Trang; Galway Therapy Clinic, Galway; Symmetry Dental and Aesthetics Clinics, Cancun) | 2026-10-02 |
| gate-dental-clinic-galway-presence-2 | https://www.tripadvisor.com/TypeAheadJson?action=API&query=Gate%20d… | TripAdvisor's own search for "Gate dental", run 2026-10-02, returns 12 results, none of them this clinic (e.g. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco; GATE 1 TRAVEL, Washington DC; Cloud Gate, Chicago) | 2026-10-02 |
| gate-dental-clinic-galway-presence-3 | https://www.gateclinic.com/ | 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 4.8 from 25 reviews). |
| 2026-09-10 | Name-verification write-back 2026-09-10: 1 dentist (Lauren McHugh, spelled on-site as "Lauren Mc Hugh") confirmed via the clinic's own team page; source added. |
| 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 (147/6/0/2/3 = 158, weighted mean 4.848), 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 (158); offersEmergency re-sourced from a search-position pseudo-source to the clinic’s own contact page (added as s4), where the "Emergencies" triage block is published, and the initial data collection claim about the price list corrected; the aiMention_emergency rank corrected from "8 of 8" to 8 of 9. All seven named dentists checked against a full download of the Register of Dentists — six found, Gerry Meehan recorded as licenseNotFound. |
| 2026-09-07 | Initial data collection: clinic website (home, team, price list), Dental Council of Ireland Register of Dentists (two of seven named dentists checked and found), 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.