Terms of service

The following terms apply to all clients attending Clark House Dental. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact our team, who will be happy to assist.

Children

We encourage children to register and attend our practices from an early age. A full suite of private dental services designed for children and families are available at Clark House Dental.

Where possible, we will on request provide appointments to allow all family members to attend at the same time. We define a child as any client who is under the age of 18 at the point of treatment.

We ask that a parent or legal guardian accompany all patients under the age of 16 for the duration of their appointments.

Comprehensive Assessments

All clients attending us for a comprehensive case assessment will undergo a full and comprehensive dental examination including necessary radiographs, photographs and occasionally video even if you have your own dental surgeon. This is the policy of Clark House Dental and our medico-legal obligation to ensure that no aspect of your dental or medical condition that may have a bearing on the success of your treatment or future health are missed, even if seemingly unrelated to your current condition.

After your comprehensive case assessment, we will provide you a Treatment Estimate outlining the scope of treatment required. You should question any aspect of your plan that is unclear to you and receive an explanation. It is the client’s responsibility to ensure they understand what is being proposed prior to commencement of treatment or at any stage during treatment.

Consent

In all but the simplest forms of treatment you will be presented with a treatment estimate document for your proposed course of treatment. This document will normally be presented to you following your Dental Checkup or treatment planning appointment.

We will ask you to sign your Treatment Estimate when it is presented to you. This is to ensure you understand it and to confirm that the Treatment Estimate has been issued to you. It is also to confirm that you agree to abide by our Terms of Service and settle the fees quoted if treatment does proceed. It does not in any way commit you to any fees until treatment commences, nor does it require that you undergo any treatment.

Treatment Plan and Estimate Form must be signed and returned in all cases to minimise risks of any misunderstanding prior to treatment commencing. Booking a treatment appointment and/or completing and signing the Treatment Plan/Estimate Form implies that you have read, understood, accept and agree to abide by these terms and conditions as they apply to this course of treatment and that all your questions regarding the proposed treatment have been answered to your satisfaction.

A course of treatment cannot begin without a signed treatment estimate in place. Clark House Dental reserves the right to postpone treatment without obligation or liability where clear signed consent has not been received prior to any elective treatment appointment being booked.

For some complex treatments, you may be provided with additional documents including an assessment report or treatment letter, a consent document and/or a payment schedule. Some of these documents may require your signature. These form part of the consent process and you should ensure that you read them carefully and retain copies for your reference.

Your clinician will have already discussed the treatment options available, but should you require further explanation or discussion then please do raise your query with a member of our team who will be happy to help. If necessary, they will refer to your attending clinician.

Contact information

It is very important that we maintain accurate contact information for you to ensure that we can reach you quickly if there is a problem with your appointments or if we have queries regarding your treatment.

As a minimum we will always ask to record your postal address, email address, a daytime contact telephone number and a mobile telephone number. In particular, it is our policy to record an email address and mobile telephone number for appointment reminders.

We are obliged to retain all your data in the strictest of confidence and will never sell your data to third parties. Your data will only be transferred to a third party with your explicit consent in the context of your dental health or treatment, subject to our obligations under relevant UK and EU law.

Contacting us

We provide a number of ways for you to contact us. These include in writing, by email and by telephone.

If you wish to contact us to discuss your dental records, treatment or personal information we reserve the right to verify your identity by asking a few straightforward questions.

We will not disclose sensitive medical information by email unless we have your explicit permission to do so. This permission must be given in writing (including by email), in person or by telephone.

Contacting you

Appointment confirmations

When booking an appointment, we will ask you if you want a confirmation of your appointment by email. If so, you will receive a separate, automated email confirmation for each appointment booked. If you wish to decline this service, you will not receive an email confirmation, but you will be asked again when booking future appointments.

A printed confirmation of your appointment can also be provided to you by a member of our team when booking an appointment in person.

Please note that whilst we will make best efforts to confirm your next appointment with us, we must advise you that you take full responsibility for attending the practice at the correct time and date.

Appointment reminders

By default, we will remind you of an upcoming appointment as follows:

- 3 weeks prior
- 3 days prior

SMS text messages are sent during working hours Monday to Friday, and on Saturdays. Our system does send messages on public holidays.

You can ask us not to send any or all of these reminders if you wish.

Please note that our Failed appointments and Short notice cancellations policy applies regardless of whether you receive an appointment reminder - reminders are offered to our patients as a courtesy and you should not rely on them to keep your appointment.

We regret that we are not able to offer personal reminders of appointments by telephone.

Treatment letters and other medical related correspondence

On occasion we will need to write to you regarding your treatment or dental health. We will normally send all such correspondence by email or letter.

We cannot guarantee that correspondence sent by email is secure. You should ensure that access to your email address is private and that you do not share this email address with other people. We do not recommend the use of a work or corporate email address for these reasons.

Planned treatment

To ensure prescribed treatment can be delivered at a time and date that suits you, we ask all clients to book treatment appointments at the time they are prescribed.

For clients who are unable to do so, we will contact you to remind you that planned treatment is outstanding. We do so via a variety of methods.

Routine appointments

To ensure our clients can secure a date and time to suit them, we ask all clients to book any future appointments required at the end of each appointment.

For patients who are unable to do so, we will contact you to remind you that you are due a routine appointment (Dental Checkups and Hygienist Sessions) if one is not booked. We do so via a variety of methods.

Appointment follow-up

We may on occasion contact you via a variety of methods following an appointment to follow-up on the service you have received. This may be a phone call, email or an invitation to complete a review or simply provide the opportunity to feedback any comments to us.

Marketing

We produce an email newsletter for our patients on a regular basis.

In addition, we occasionally send out special offers or information about events at the practice by email.

If you do not wish to receive marketing emails from us, you can opt out by informing us. If you opt out, you will not be contacted for marketing purposes again. Note that you will be ineligible for special offers sent via email. You can join the email list again at any point by letting us know.

If you opt out of marketing materials your email address will remain in your medical records for appointment reminders, confirmations and treatment related correspondence.

Data protection

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO Registration Number: Z6350659 – Clark House Dental Surgeries Ltd). We take our duty to maintain the integrity and confidence of your medical records extremely seriously.

To this end, we use a number of systems and controls to protect your data including secure computer databases and thorough training in data protection for all of our clinicians and staff.

It is our policy to computerise medical records to the greatest extent possible. Paper records are subject to error or loss and we are therefore phasing out paper records. You may be asked to complete forms electronically.

You are entitled to review and to have a copy of the medical records we hold on file for you at any point. If you have any questions about your medical records, please do not hesitate to contact our team.

Discussing your records or treatment with others

We understand that many of our clients will want us to speak with their family or friends in relation to their appointments or their treatments. For example, a client may want us to discuss their appointments with their spouse. However, to protect the confidentiality of our patients we have a strict policy of non-disclosure in place.

By default, our staff and clinicians will not discuss any aspect of your personal data with anybody except you. Should you wish us to be able to discuss your treatment with other individuals then we will require your written consent to do so. This includes your appointments, your medical records and any other aspect of your relationship with us. In exceptional circumstances, we will accept notice to cancel a single appointment from a member of your family to permit you to cancel an appointment in an emergency.

If you would like us to discuss your treatment with family members then you must record your permission by completing and submitting a Data Disclosure Form, on which you must specify the individuals or organisations you are happy to for us to talk to. You will need to specify what you are happy for us to discuss and whether this permission is indefinite or time-limited. Alternatively, you can provide this authority in writing or by email from the email address we hold on your file.

You can revoke permission given to us at any time by contacting us.

Please note that in limited circumstances we are required by law to disclose your medical records and/or personal information to certain bodies or government organisations. For example, we may be required to disclose certain information to the police in relation to an investigation. These requirements are not subject to your permission and, in many cases, we are not obliged to disclose to you that a request for information has been received and/or fulfilled.

We will of course normally discuss the care of our child clients with their parents and/or legal guardians.

Emergency dental care

Clients attending as an emergency will have their emergency treatment prioritised and be encouraged to return for a full examination. Such appointments are payable on the day of the emergency appointment. Clark House Dental recognises an emergency as being one or more of the following: pain unresponsive to painkillers, persistent bleeding, infection or swelling especially if accompanied by an elevated temperature or breathing difficulty, trauma or accident and breakage or loss of a front tooth or restoration.

We endeavour to provide all registered active clients with an emergency appointment if required. Where there is no duty dentist during working hours, we will do our best to arrange the appointment as soon as the dentist is back.

Patients who are marked as inactive are not eligible for emergency appointments.

Out of hours arrangements can be accessed on our website www.clarkhouse.dental or by calling us on 01752 664918.

Practice members may be able to claim a portion of the fee paid towards out of hours emergency dental care. Terms apply – see your Policy Wording for further details.

Estimates

Due to the complexity of some courses of treatment, it may not be possible sometimes to give an accurate estimate of fees at the start of treatment until some investigative procedures are carried out first and the response to initial treatment evaluated. Such estimates will then necessarily need to be staged or phased. You will be informed in writing as soon as possible if the treatment costs are likely to exceed or fall below the estimate(s). An estimate of further investigations required will be made in your preliminary treatment report.

Estimate ranges given on preliminary reports may be subject to written confirmation with a full dental report, treatment plan and estimate. Please note that the estimates are not definitive quotes and may vary up or down during a course of treatment. Occasionally we may complete treatment for a lower fee than initially predicted. Additional fees may be incurred if you delay treatment beyond the recommended timescale.

Your Treatment Estimate is valid for 3 months. If you do not proceed with the treatment during this period, or your medical circumstances have changed, a new Treatment Estimate may be required. We may ask you to attend an additional consultation with your clinician so that a revised Treatment Estimate can be prepared. Where this 3-month period overlaps a date of fee revision at the practice, we will honour the original estimate if treatment commences and proceeds within the prescribed timescale.

Failed appointments and Short Notice Cancellations

If you cancel your appointment at short notice or you fail to attend an appointment you deprive other clients of that clinical time and cause significant disruption to the practice.

To ensure the best possible experience for all of our clients, we enforce a policy to manage failed appointments and short notice cancellations.

We accept that clients will need to cancel or rearrange appointments for a variety of reasons. If you do need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, please ensure you give us at least 2 full working days’ notice. Full working days mean 9.00 am until 5.00pm Monday to Friday where the practice is open.

For example, if you cancel on a Friday afternoon for a Monday morning appointment you will not have provided us with the required notice.

Appointments not kept or cancelled without the required notice are chargeable. The charges are set and periodically revised based on the coverage of treatment costs, overheads and level of treatment.

No late cancellation charge will be made for time that can be filled by re-appointing other clients so the more notice you are able to give, the less likely we are to have to invoice you for a late cancellation. No fees will normally be incurred for genuine illness for the first appointment missed in any calendar year. We reserve the right to charge for lost time if there are 2 or more cancellations or non-attendances due to illness in any 12-month period at our discretion.

We also reserve the right to refuse to treat clients who continuously cancel at short notice or fail to attend appointments, without further obligation or acceptance of responsibility for direct or indirect consequences of postponing treatment. Members are not excluded from this policy and may be required to make a reservation fee towards any future consultations.

On occasion it may be necessary for the practice to reschedule your appointments with us. We will always endeavour to provide the greatest amount of notice possible. In order that we might be able to contact you promptly in such circumstances it is important that we hold your contact details including email addresses and mobile/daytime telephone numbers.

On very rare occasions, where a clinician is unwell or there is a problem with our facilities, we may be required to reschedule your appointment at short notice. We always endeavour to see clients where facilities and clinical resources allow but we will not proceed with appointments where we are unable to ensure our usual high standards and we ask for our clients’ understanding in these circumstances.

Guarantees

Clark House Dental guarantees our work against technical failure for 1 year. This guarantee commences from when the treatment is completed or from the End of Treatment Review Appointment in advanced cases. The End of Treatment Review Appointment must be within 2 working weeks of final fitting to ensure that all aspects of the work have had time to settle and have been adjusted to the satisfaction of the clinician when the client is not under the influence of local anaesthetic or sedation. “Technical failure” will be diagnosed and photographically documented by the dental surgeon and the information shared with the dental technician responsible for any laboratory work fitted. It will cover the following:

• Breakage of definitive restorations, (but not core restorations prescribed for crowning).
• Definitively fitted laboratory work (apart from the acrylic or composite resin veneering on metal framework implant bridges which will require servicing as teeth wear).
The guarantee does not cover:
• Minor wear, chipping or cracking from normal usage where the core material or tooth has not been visibly exposed.
• Where a guarantee has not been given in the treatment planning letter for a specific reason or for a specific item or items of treatment
• Where there has been a lack of proper cleaning and home care, lapse in recommended examination and hygienist programme visits, breakage due to trauma, inappropriate use or deliberate damage, delay in the provision of definitive protective restorations beyond a period of 2 months from when recommended, new decay, gum recession exposing edges of crowns or implants, periodontal (gum) infection or sudden tooth or root fracture under an intact restoration.
• Subjective aesthetic “failure” or subjective unacceptability from the viewpoint of the client or third party including their partner or spouse if work is technically correct and the client has accepted cementation or fitting at the time of the fit appointment.

Clark House Dental also covers the following biological failures. Biological failure includes the following:
• Complete failure of bone grafts or soft tissue grafts or dental implants in non-smokers, clients not taking bisphosphonate or other bone metabolism-influencing medication or any disease process influencing bone or soft tissue healing including but not limited to high LDL cholesterol and low vitamin D levels only. We may require you to have blood tests via your GP if we suspect a systemic cause to any failures.
• Failure of root canal treatment by persistent infection but not including breakage or root fracture under a crown or due to a delay in protective crowning or onlaying for protection when recommended.

Work is guaranteed as follows:

Failure < 1 year

Work will be repaired or replaced free of charge, or fee paid for failed work will be deducted from further work whichever is applicable.

Failure > 1 year
Full fee applicable or deduction in current fee will be applied at our discretion.

The guarantees are conditional on you receiving at least one Oral Health Check at Clark House Dental per calendar year and at least 2 hygienist visits per calendar year or as specifically recommended to you in your correspondence or subsequent dentist or hygienist/therapist advice during review or examination appointments. Clark House Dental is not responsible for the quality of hygiene services provided by other practices. Inadequate or infrequent hygienist care may negate your guarantee and our recommendation is that hygiene services are provided and documented at Clark House Dental to maintain this guarantee unless alternative hygienist services can demonstrate documented care to the same standard. Your end of treatment review will outline the recommendations for ongoing hygiene care if you attend hygiene visits at another practice. This would include yearly recordings of plaque, bleeding, pocketing and recession scores and additional photographs and radiographs as appropriate. Allowances may be made for exceptional circumstances at our discretion.

Inactive clients

A client who is marked as inactive will not be contacted with regard to routine appointments and is not expected to attend the practice on a regular basis.

We will mark you as inactive at your request or if you have not attended the practice for a Dental Checkup for 24 months or more. This excludes members, who will remain marked as an active client so long as their membership remains valid.

Regardless of your status you are very welcome to attend the practice at any time in the future. Please note however that inactive clients may be required to attend a Re-registration Dental Checkup – for which our standard charge will be levied - before further treatment can be offered to ensure the correct treatment is prescribed.

Insurance and employer claims

We are not registered with any dental or health insurer. As such, we will not invoice treatment to an insurer, employer or other third party without the explicit agreement of both the third party and Clark House Dental.

Medical history

We will ask to record your medical history at various occasions. Parents or guardians should complete the questionnaire for minors under the age of 18. This confidential information is vital to ensure that any treatment provided to you is optimised and delivered safely, and that we can care for you properly in an emergency. It is a legal requirement that we have an up-to-date medical history on record.

We will ask you to provide us with a medical history at the following points:

- Upon registration with the practice as a new client
- Where you are about to begin new a course of treatment
- At your routine appointments with your dentist or hygienist

You should take time to review the form on each occasion and complete it to the best of your knowledge. If you are unsure of any points, ask your clinician.

On occasion we may also ask for additional information, such as medical records from your General Medical Practitioner (GP), copies of prescriptions etc.

The process we use to record your medical history is complete and relevant and ensures that the correct information is stored accurately and safely with the utmost confidence and security. See Data Protection for more information.

We regret that we are unable to treat clients who refuse to complete a medical history form when requested.

New clients

We are always pleased to welcome new clients to Clark House Dental, and we want to ensure that your experience is a pleasant and enjoyable one.

New clients will normally be asked to book a Dental Checkup or Comprehensive Assessment with one of our dental surgeons. This consultation allows the dental surgeon to perform a thorough review of your teeth, gums and mouth and to have a preliminary conversation with you about your dental health and the appearance of your smile. You will have the opportunity to ask any questions or discuss any problems.

On many occasions your dental surgeon will ask that you have a radiographic assessment (X-ray). This may be a ‘standard’ intra-oral dental x-ray or a large x-ray (OPG or CT-Scan).

You may be asked to consent to an x-ray during the Initial Consultation or afterwards. If an x-ray is required, the process will be explained to you in full.

We may levy a fee for some types of x-ray to cover the costs of the advanced equipment we use. Any costs due will be explained to you in full before the x-ray is taken.

Payment terms

We accept the following methods of payment:

- Mastercard, Visa, Visa Debit, Apple Pay and Google Pay.

- Cash payments up to a maximum of £10,000 per course of treatment

In addition, we offer finance options to spread the fees over a period of up to 60 months (12.9% APR, terms apply) for treatment courses over £500. Interest-free finance option (0% finance) is also available to a period of up to 12 months. Finance availability is subject to credit status. Ask a member of our team for more information.

We charge a reservation fee for appointments of 45 minutes or longer in duration. See Reservation Fee for more information. For routine appointments and treatment appointments less than 45 minutes in duration, we will normally ask for full payment at the completion of treatment.

If your treatment will require multiple appointments, we will ask you to pay for each stage of treatment as it is completed.

The amounts due at each stage of treatment will be made clear to you. For complex treatments, this will include a detailed Payment Schedule.

Clients are responsible for the timely settlement of all fees in full. Where treatment fees are to be settled by a third party, fees will be requested in advance of treatment proceeding and funds must be cleared in our account prior to appointments being scheduled. Funds from third party financing must be arranged, approved and cleared into our account prior to appointments being scheduled. If treatment is commenced and the decision is then made afterwards by the client to obtain finance from a third party for the remainder of treatment, we reserve the right to delay scheduling of future appointments until finance has been agreed and funds cleared into our account. Any outstanding fees already incurred are payable as per these terms and conditions.

We reserve the right to postpone further on-going treatment if due invoices are not settled by due dates and can take no responsibility for any disruption to treatment, inconvenience or further costs that are incurred in the event this decision is made. We are sympathetic to changes in personal circumstances that may preclude further treatment or cause difficulties in making payments. In the event that settlement of fees is not possible due to a change in personal circumstances, please write to the Practice Manager Helen Light via normal post or e-mail helen@clarkhouse.dental as soon as possible. It is not possible to extend credit beyond that stated in the treatment planning and estimate letter unless there are exceptional circumstances and Clark House Dental is made aware of them as soon as possible.

If due invoices are not settled by due dates, we will initially send a request to settle due payments to your last known e-mail address (or postal address if you do not have e-mail). Should your e-mail or home address or contact numbers change during treatment, or if you will be away from your address for an extended period, it is your responsibility to inform us by e-mail at team@clarkhouse.dental (or in writing FAO The Practice Manager, Clark House Dental, 14 Lockyer Street, Plymouth PL1 2QJ) to prevent costs incurred by delayed payment due to lost, misdirected or late receipt of invoices. Further fees may be applied at our discretion (to a value of no greater than 10% of the final balance of the account) if extensive administrative time is spent dealing with recovery of monies owed on your account.

We will send a final request to you at your last known contact or e-mail address after the second month from date of invoice with notice of impending transfer to a debt collection agency should the account remain unpaid. You should submit any valid reasons for non-payment of fees well before this date in writing and request acknowledgement of receipt.

Account balances not settled within three calendar months from the date of invoice will be forwarded to a registered debt collection agency of our choice or HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) Money Claim Online without further notice. A 20% surcharge is applied automatically to the account balance when the account is transferred to the collection agency or HMCTS Money Claim. We will not enter into any direct correspondence regarding fee settlement after referring the account. You should submit any further correspondence regarding this matter directly to the collection agency involved. We reserve the right to withdraw services including emergency care until due invoices are settled.

Records

All original material and digital dental records, laboratory work, scans, photographs, video or client data recorded on any medium remain the property of Clark House Dental and may be used anonymously and within the constraints of the current Data Protection Act 1998 (ICO Registration Number: Z6350659 – Clark House Dental Surgeries Ltd) for professional teaching or promotional materials including but not restricted to national and international teaching, lecturing, mentoring, publishing, brochures and websites unless you inform us otherwise in writing.

Photographs and occasional video are taken routinely as part of your clinical record and it is not acceptable for us to work without this documentation.

Refunds

If you require a refund for any reason, we will issue the refund to the debit/credit card used to make the original payment or, if this is not viable, via any of your debit cards. No interest will be payable on this refunded sum.

We regret that we are unable to issue refunds by cash or cheque regardless of the original payment method.

Reservation fee

A number of services we provide, especially advanced treatments, involve a significant investment in terms of preparation time and materials. For many treatments, the materials we order and use are bespoke to the client and the treatment being delivered. In addition, the clinical team will take a significant amount of time to prepare for the treatment to ensure our high standards are consistently met. For example, a surgical or implant appointment of one hour may require up to two hours additional preparation and clear away time.

For this reason, we charge a reservation fee (deposit) for some courses of treatment and some consultations on the following terms.

Dental checkups (New clients)

We will take the full fee to secure your appointment. This fee will be applied to the cost of the appointment when you attend.

If you wish to rearrange your appointment the reservation fee will be transferred. If you wish to cancel your appointment, the reservation fee will be refunded to you. However, our Failed appointments and Short notice cancellations policy will apply.

Hygienist visits (Direct Access)

We will take the full fee to secure your appointment. This fee will be applied to the cost of the appointment when you attend.

Free consultations

We may take a reservation fee of £10 to secure your appointment. This fee will be refunded to you when you attend or can be applied towards the cost of any future treatment if you prefer.

If you wish to rearrange your appointment the reservation fee will be transferred. If you wish to cancel your appointment, this fee will be refunded to you. However, our Failed appointments and Short notice cancellations policy will apply.

Treatments

A reservation fee is required prior to booking your treatment appointments of 45 minutes or longer in duration. This fee depends on the length of your treatment and you will be notified when booking the appointment. This fee will be held on account and will be credited to your final treatment charge. If you choose to withdraw from treatment at any stage, this fee will be applied to any remaining charges.

You are required to maintain this amount on credit until your final treatment appointment. If your credit amount falls below this, we will require an additional payment on account before further appointments can be confirmed.

Late cancellations and non-attendances will be invoiced against reservation fee payment or full payment made in advance.

Routine appointments

Routine appointments, also known as recall appointments, are vital to the ongoing maintenance of your dental health.

We usually recommend that a patient who is not undergoing a course of treatment invests in their dental health by attending a Dental Checkup and Hygienist session once every six months.

The precise number and pattern of routine consultations will be prescribed by your clinical team and will change over time in reaction to your health and circumstances.

Attending a routine consultation is of course optional. However, we will normally only maintain a patient as active on our records where they are regularly attending appointments (see Inactive Clients).

Withdrawing from treatment

If you choose not to proceed at any stage after treatment has commenced fees for treatment delivered to date will be raised. Any payments on your account will be applied to these fees. Please note that the fees due will reflect the actual treatment delivered and may differ from the timing noted on your Treatment Estimate and/or Payment Schedule.

If funds remain to your credit, they shall be refunded to you. If funds are owing to us, you will be required to settle the amount outstanding upon receipt of an invoice.

Please note that some treatments are non-refundable once you have chosen to proceed.