Registering with Us

To officially register as a patient with Sona Dental, you must complete a New Patient Examination/Check-up appointment. Please note that emergency appointments and their associated treatment do not count towards patient registration.

To maintain your "registered" status, you need to attend at least one dental check-up within one calendar year. Failure to do so will result in automatic de-registration and the forfeiture of your registration benefits.

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Treatment

Any treatment plan or estimate provided is for your information and serves as a record of the treatment discussed, agreed upon, and chosen by you, along with the associated costs. If you wish to change your treatment plan, please notify us in writing or by email so we can discuss and/or update it. An updated plan will then be provided.

Should you have any questions about your treatment plan or discussions during your appointment, please inform us in writing or by email before your treatment is due to be carried out.

Please be aware that treatment plans and estimates can change due to various reasons, including but not limited to: clinical reasons (dentist), changes in decision (dentist or patient), or financial considerations (patient).

Treatment plans and estimates are valid for 90 days from the date they were prescribed.​

 

Treatment Guarantee

Treatment provided by Sona Dental is guaranteed for one year from the date of treatment, on a like-for-like basis, provided the following conditions are met:

• Full payment for treatment has been received, with no outstanding balance on your account.

• The restorations have not been damaged as a result of an accident, trauma, or excessive grinding.

• All post-treatment maintenance recommendations made by our dentists were followed.

• A routine examination was completed within the last 12 months.​

Some treatments may have a guarantee of less than one year or no guarantee at all. In such cases, your dentist will inform you either verbally or in writing.

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Payments

We accept payments via Cash, Debit Card, Credit Card, and BACS.

We do not accept Cheques or American Express.

All appointments require a non-refundable £50 deposit. This deposit is required for all examinations, new patient examinations, emergency appointments, hygiene appointments, consults, assessments, and treatment appointments. It also applies to appointments with resident or visiting specialists (e.g., Implants, sedation, Invisalign, cosmetic work, smile makeovers) and appointments for patients with a poor or unreliable attendance history. The practice reserves the right to require additional up-front payments or deposits at its discretion. Examples where this may apply include, but are not limited to: lengthy appointments, a new patient’s first few appointments, evening and Saturday appointments, lab work costs, treatment exceeding a certain amount, or a history of late, cancelled, or failed appointments.​

If a deposit or up-front payment has been requested, failure to attend your appointment or cancelling within 48 hours will result in the forfeiture of your £50 deposit and any additional deposit paid. To book another appointment, you will be required to pay the full appointment fee again, including another £50 non-refundable deposit.​

Any reductions, omissions, or cancellations of deposits or late/missed appointment charges are wholly at Sona Dental's discretion and upon careful consideration of each individual case.​

 

Failure of Payments

You must ensure you have suitable methods and means of payment available. Any failure in payment will result in de-registration from the practice and a referral to a debt collection agency or the small claims court. We reserve the right to recover all costs incurred in doing so. If we are required to pass this matter onto our external agent for collection, you will become liable for a further administration charge between 15% – 50% of the amount outstanding.​

 

Cancellation, Missed, and Late Appointments

You must give at least 48 hours’ notice if cancelling your appointment with Sona Dental. If you cancel with less than 48 hours' notice, or if you fail to attend (FTA) your appointment, you will forfeit your £50 deposit and any additional deposit paid. You may also be charged at the Failure To Attend (FTA) rate (50% of the full fee for the appointment missed), which includes examinations. To book another appointment, you will be required to pay the full appointment fee again, including another £50 non-refundable deposit.​

If you are late for your appointment, your dentist or hygienist may not have enough time to carry out the appropriate treatment. In such cases, a late arrival may be treated as a missed appointment, resulting in the forfeiture of your deposit and potential FTA charges.​

If you have missed any appointments (Failed To Attend) or cancelled appointments at short notice, you may be required to clear your debt before being able to book another appointment. At the practice’s discretion, you may also be required to pay a non-refundable deposit to book your appointment again.​

Repeated or high frequency late cancellations, lateness, or non-attendance of appointments can also result in de-registration from the practice and no further appointments being offered.​

It is Sona Dental's discretion and final decision to charge/reduce/omit any late cancellation or non-attendance fees, and it is also the practice’s discretion to de-register patients who are persistent offenders of the above.

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Your Responsibility

It is your responsibility to maintain regular check-ups and hygiene appointments as recommended by your dentist and hygienist for your own oral health and to remain a registered patient.​

Your dentist or hygienist cannot be held responsible for any advice not followed or treatment refused that leads to a deterioration in your oral health.​

As part of the conditions of registering, you must provide the following information and notify us of any changes: Full name, address, phone number, email, up-to-date medical history and any changes to your medical history, and any other information that may be relevant to us or that we may need to know. It is your responsibility to provide this information to us in writing as soon as you are aware of them.​

If you have a cold sore or feel a cold sore developing, you must notify the practice immediately so we can rearrange your appointment. They are highly infectious and pose a medical risk to staff. The same applies for any type of infectious illness, including colds, flu, viral, bacterial, or fungal infections.​

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General Information

By booking your first appointment with Sona Dental, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions.

Sona Dental reserves the right to de-register a patient with no reason given.​

Email, text, and phone calls are an essential part of communication with you about the practice, your appointments, and to communicate any changes or updates. We may send you practice-related information, including offers, to your given contact details. We do not sell, lease, or distribute your personal information to third parties. All communication from us is practice-related only. Examples include, but are not limited to: appointment reminders or changes, changes in days or hours that may affect you, policy updates, and government information.​

By registering, you also give us permission for clinical photos and/or videos to be taken, which may be used to, but not limited to, form part of your clinical record, communicate with the laboratory or other dental professionals, diagnosis, education, and marketing while maintaining your full confidentiality (teeth but not facial photos).

By registering, you also give permission for us to post dental-related letters, leave voicemails, answerphone messages, and emails to the details you have provided.​

For a copy of our GDPR policy, copies can be found on our website, in the practice information folder, or it can be requested in writing.​

If you are referred to a specialist or to secondary/tertiary care, Sona Dental is not responsible for any treatment provided by a third party, even if the specialist/dentist's treatment is within the practice.

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No Tolerance/Abuse Policy

Sona Dental operates a zero-tolerance policy for abuse towards our team. This includes loud, disorderly, drunken, abusive behaviour, and persistent missing and late cancellation of appointments (after multiple warnings). In these situations, Sona Dental reserves the right to refuse treatment/admission and, if necessary, report to the relevant authority/police.​

 

Data Protection

Sona Dental is fully committed to handling personal information in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which came into force on 25 May 2018.​

This means your personal information will be:

• Processed lawfully, fairly, and in a transparent manner.

• Collected for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes.

• Only collected as required for our lawful purposes.

• Reviewed regularly.

• Retained only for as long as necessary and in accordance with our retention policy.

• Processed securely and with integrity.​

It is important that you are aware of our procedures and practices and understand your rights in relation to your personal data, and this Privacy Notice is designed to be part of that information.

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Why do we need to process personal data?

We need to process your personal data throughout our relationship with you for updating you on our services, server issues, website updates, and regulatory requirements.

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What personal data do we collect?

“Personal data” or “personal information” is any information relating to or about an individual from which that person can be directly or indirectly identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

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How do we collect the data?

We may collect this information directly from you (e.g., when you submit a form to us or enter into a contract for services with us or via a face-to-face meeting).

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What is our lawful basis for processing your personal data?

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:

• Where we have obtained your prior consent;

• Where we need to perform a contract we have entered into with you;

• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation; or

• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.​

We may also use your personal information where we need to protect your interests (or someone else’s interest) or where it is needed in the public interest.

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Change of purpose

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.​

Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

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Do we share data with third parties?

We may share your personal information with third parties where required by law, where it is necessary to administer the working relationship with you, or where we have another legitimate interest in doing so.​

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure all information sharing is carried out in a secure way and will ask our third-party associates to assure us they will handle your personal data securely by using contracts to make our requirements clear and within the legal requirements as set out in the GDPR.

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Retention of personal data

The retention periods for personal data depend on the purpose for which the information was obtained and will differ for different uses.​

We may retain data in our CRM system to highlight possible connections and touch points to better advise of contact with you; however, we do regularly clean our databases to keep the information current, and this information is securely deleted.

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Where do we store personal data?

Your data is stored on a secured premises in a locked cabinet and on a secure client relationship management (CRM) database enforced by encrypted password protocols.

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IP Addresses

We do collect statistics on visits to our website and social media sites, and whilst these are anonymous statistics, your IP address may be considered personal data under the legislation. Therefore, we may collect information about the computer or device which is used to access our website. We use this information to collect anonymous statistics to view traffic to the site and how the site is used. This collection does not identify individual users.

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Cookies

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. This information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity.​

For further information visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org​​

You can set your browser not to accept cookies, and the above websites tell you how to remove cookies from your browser. However, in a few cases, some of our website features may not function as a result.

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Data Breaches

In the event of a “high risk” personal data breach, the individual(s) will be notified immediately within 72 hours, as well as the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). Our company and staff shall follow our security protocols in line with our “Data Breach” company policy as well as the ICO guidelines and take all necessary precautions in order to minimise the severity of the breach for the individual. All personal data breaches shall be recorded in our data breach register.​

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Your Rights

 

Right to be informed

You have the right to be informed about the processing of your personal data, and this Privacy Notice provides you with the information you need to reassure you that we handle your personal data securely and lawfully.

 

Right of access

You have the right to request access to your personal data and to request further information relating to your personal data such as the purposes of processing, the categories of organisations with whom we share your personal data, the retention period for such personal data, and the existence of any automated decision-making relating to your personal data.

 

Right to rectification

You have the right to have any inaccuracies or factual errors corrected or incomplete data amended.

If this information has been disclosed to a third party, we will inform that party and request that they amend their records.

We want your information to be accurate, complete, and up to date, so you can ask us to make any rectifications necessary as your details or circumstances change.

 

Right to erasure

You can request to have your personal data deleted or removed if there is no compelling reason to keep it, as follows:

• If your personal data is no longer required for the purposes for which we obtained them;

• Where the processing of your personal data is based on your consent and you withdraw such consent;

• Where the processing of your personal data is based on our legitimate interests and you successfully object to such processing;

• Where the personal data is processed unlawfully; or

• Where the personal data has to be erased for compliance with a legal obligation.​

If the personal data is held for statutory or regulatory requirements, it cannot be erased.​

Any request made will be discussed with you, unless deletion is an obvious step.​

Following erasure, we will not retain your information, and therefore it is possible that your personal information may be re-obtained from the public domain or social media, which may result in contact from our organisation.

 

Right to restrict processing

This relates to personal data where the accuracy is contested or where you have objected to our processing based on our legitimate interests or where we no longer require the personal data but you request us to keep. It is a complex area, and whilst a decision is being made in consultation with you, we will store the data but not process it.

 

Right to data portability

You have the right to take and use your data for other services or purposes. Where the personal data provided by you is processed on the basis of your consent or a contract between us and you, we are required to make this information available to you in a readable, easily transferred format.

 

Right to object

Where the processing of your personal data is based on our legitimate interests, you have the right to object (based on your particular circumstances) to the way we handle, use, or store your personal data. If you object to our processing of your personal data, we will restrict any further processing until we determine whether or not there are any compelling reasons why we should continue the processing.​

We do not sell your personal data.​

We meet in person as we believe that is the best way to start our relationship and to assess your requirements for our services.

 

Exercise of your rights

If you wish to exercise any of your rights in respect of your personal data, please contact us using the details below. Our Data Protection Officer will provide you with further information if required.​

We will respond to any exercise of your rights within one month of such request, unless the request is complex, in which case we will seek an extension and respond within a further two months thereafter.​

We will respond to your requests to exercise your rights at no charge, although repeated or manifestly unfounded or excessive requests may be refused or may incur an administrative charge covering the time and other costs associated with this.

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Consent

During the registration process, we may ask how you wish to be contacted:

• By telephone

• By email

• By post

• By text/SMS​

You are free to consent to all or one or more of these. However, the law requires that if you permit us to use only one method, that is the only method we can use. Given your requirements and opportunities that can come up at short notice, you may wish to consider more than one contact method.

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Complaints Policy

At Sona Dental, we always take complaints about any aspects of our services very seriously to ensure that every patient has only the very best experience at all times.​

Complaints can be made in writing, via email, or verbally, by the patient or by an authorised person on the patient’s behalf. Complaints should be made to the practice and should be clear so that they can be dealt with efficiently.​

Every complaint will receive a written/email acknowledgment within 3 working days, and the Management will strive to resolve the complaint within a quick, reasonable period (usually 20 working days). For our full complaints procedure and policy, please ask a member of our reception team. If a complaint is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charge, it will normally be acknowledged by the Management team and then referred to the treating clinician. Please note that in these cases, Sona Dental accepts no liability on behalf of the treating Dentist/Clinician and acts as a liaison between the patient and the treating Dentist/Clinician only.​

If you have any questions, queries, or require further information about our terms & conditions, not only regarding any of the above but about anything in general related to our dental practice or the dentistry provided, please email or write us at the address below.

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Email address: reception@sonadental.co.uk