Practice Terms & Conditions

Terms and Conditions – Private Treatment Options

We always strive to provide our patients with the best possible standards of care whenever we can. This document gives details of our terms and conditions of service. If, however, you have any queries or need clarification, please contact us and a member of staff will be happy to help you.

Please be mindful that any information provided through any of our non-clinical platforms (such as: website, social media pages, news, phone, email, …) is for information purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. No professional advice can be given without a face to face, clinical consultation with a dentist. For professional dental advice we strongly recommend that you see a dentist for full consultation.

Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery does have a contract with an NHS Primary Care Trust, however, these terms and conditions all to all treatments that are provided strictly on a private basis only.

Black Friday 2024

Offer to be paid at full time of redemption. Offer to be used within 3 months.

Treatment plans and Estimates

Once your treatment plan has been agreed with the Dentist and discussed with our care co-ordination team, we will provide printed details of your plan. If this plan changes due to radiographic or clinical findings, we will inform you and discuss this with you. Treatment plans and fees are valid for 90 days from the date the treatment was prescribed. If there are any points on your treatment plan that you wish to query, please do not hesitate to ask us, before the appointments for treatment commence.

Consent forms

Our treatments at the Clinic require completion of a written consent form. This is in order to explain the treatment, aftercare and any risk to you thoroughly, before any of these treatments are carried out.

Consent for any treatment can be withdrawn at any point by the patient or dental professional in either verbal or written formats. 

Fees

Fees for treatment are due on the day the treatment is provided. We do not operate an account in arrears facility and we require fees to be settled at the appointment where treatment is provided. Where treatment incurs a laboratory fee, including all orthodontic treatment, a minimum of 50% of the total fee is due at the appointment where impressions are taken. Fees for certain treatments like Dental Implants and Invisalign® are taken in staged payments, however, each due balance must be paid prior to the appointment date. 

All appointments for treatment, can only be booked, once a 25% financial deposit has been taken in advance. This will be discussed at your initial visit with our care co-ordination team. 

Fees for treatment where intravenous sedation is included, must be settled prior to the appointment to avoid financial transactions, or signatures being required, whilst a client is still under the influence of the sedative.

In cases where treatment is paid for on finance through a Finance company, please be aware that the finance agreement must be accepted and signed prior to the start of that treatment and a 14-day cooling off period will apply following a successful finance application. Please note that finance is only available on treatments over £350.00, excluding Emergency Dental Treatment, and that a minimum deposit may also be required.

Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery reserves the right to charge time-based deposits for booking future appointments. Deposits are deductible off the cost of treatment.

Payment methods accepted are:

• Cash

• Debit Card

Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery does not accept any payments by cheque (unless agreed in advance with the practice owner). Please note that unpaid accounts are routinely referred to a Debt Collection Agency or the Small Claims Court, and we reserve the right to recover all costs incurred in doing so. 

We reserve the right to ask for payment in full before beginning any treatment plan.

Late cancellation or missed appointments:

We require a minimum of 48 business hours’ notice for cancellation of any arranged appointment. When we schedule an appointment for a patient, we are booking the surgery time off for that patient’s treatment. Failure to give the appropriate notice of cancellation will result in a Failed Appointment Fee being charged. This fee is proportionate to the length of the appointment failed and is to cover the cost of the surgery time wasted. This minimum fee set by the clinic for a failed appointment is £45.00. This will need to be settled prior to any further appointments being offered. 

Failed Appointment fees must be settled before any other appointment is offered. Please note that we cannot accept notice of cancellation by text message or social media platforms. 

Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery reserves the right to charge the full cost of the treatment in the event of a missed appointment or an appointment cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice. For appointments longer than 1 hour, we require at least 72 hours.

For missed appointments or short notice cancellations, we reserve the right to take a minimum of 50% deposit to book further appointments.

Please note it is also down to the Practice Manager’s discretion if further appointments can be booked for any late cancellations or missed appointments.

Late for appointments:

We understand that some patients travel long distances to get to the clinic, and in some cases being late for appointments can be unavoidable. If you are more than 10 minutes, please be aware that you may be asked to reschedule your appointment.

Personal Details:

It is very important that you give a full medical history and details of any medication you take. Should these change in any way, it is very important for you to tell your Dentist. It is the patient’s responsibility to inform the clinic of any changes in either personal details and/or their medical history. We will ask you to update your medical history and personal details on a regular basis.

Guarantee:

At Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery, we offer a 12 month guarantee for fillings, and crown and bridgework, provided that the following conditions are met:

1. The patient has fully paid for the treatment and does not owe the practice any money for the treatment received.

2. The restorations have not been damaged because of an accident, trauma or excessive grinding.

3. The patient has followed all post treatment maintenance recommendations made by our dentists.

4. The patient has attended and routine examination every 6 months, and to visit a dental hygienist, at a frequency advised by us.

Some treatments may have a guarantee of less than 1 year, and in this case, you will be informed by your Dentist either verbally or in writing, or both.

Refund policy - Cancelled Courses of Treatment

In the unlikely event that Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery needs to cancel a course of treatment, we will make every reasonable effort to give as much notice to you as possible.

Our maximum liability for any cancelled course of treatment will be the advanced deposit payment ONLY. Refunds will only be made via the method in which the treatment booking was initially paid.

We will not accept any liability for any additional costs incurred by the patient, which are said to have arisen through the cancellation of any course of treatment. We reserve the right to amend the delivery of a treatment plan and will also keep you informed of any changes as they arise.

You are within your right to cancel any course of treatment for which you have booked an appointment and be fully refunded for all fees for any treatment, not yet performed, provided you have given at least 48 hours’ notice, in line with the practice cancellation policy. If less than 48 hours notice is given, we reserve the right to withhold a proportionate amount of money, based on the length of the appointment, to cover overheads. Please refer to our practice cancellation policy for further information.

Fee retention does not apply to NHS appointments but Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery reserves the right to discontinue any NHS treatments and/or future care under the NHS.

For those patients who wish to discontinue their treatment, we will refund any amount owed, for any treatment not received, within 14 days. If a patient is receiving any treatment which may involve laboratory work and the initial stages of this work have been carried out, a proportion of the fee taken at the start of treatment will be retained by the practice to cover the cost of the laboratory fees incurred to us as a business. Examples of laboratory work, include, but are not limited to:

Crowns

Bridges

Dentures

Orthodontic Appliances

Dental Implants

Smile Makeover Packages

All refunds will be processed within 14 days, following receipt of your request, which must be received in writing via email to the Practice Manager:

practicemanager@baycliffdentalsurgery.co.uk

If you have paid for treatment not yet provided, that does not involve any laboratory fee, we will refund the transaction paid by the method of which the original payment was made to us. If the method was cash and it would not be suitable for you to collect this in person, this refund can be made in the form of a BACS payment. In this instance, the Practice Manager will contact you directly for further details in order to process this.

Use of Images and X-rays:

Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery may use images and x-rays of your smile and teeth only, for marketing and educational purposes on our website and social media platforms, and on promotional and educational literature. Your name will never be published, and identity will never be disclosed. However, if you DO NOT wish for us to use your images and x-rays in this way, please let us know.

Use of patient contact details:

At Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery the health of our patients is our highest priority, and we also like to keep our patients informed of various important changes at the clinic and of our latest special offers. We like to remind our patients of their appointments, when they are due for appointments, and other various important reminders. On this note, you may be periodically contacted by the clinic via phone, text, email or by letter in the post. If you DO NOT wish to be contacted by the clinic by any or all of these means, please let us know.

Cold sore policy:

Due to the risk of cross infection to our patients and staff members we will no longer treat patients with active cold sores unless treatment is deemed as urgent. This is not only because there is a risk of spreading the virus but also because your lips may be sore, dry and may bleed during treatment.

Cold sores are considered contagious from the moment you first feel tingling to when the lesion has completely healed. A healed cold sore is one that is no longer visible.

If you are currently suffering with a cold sore and not in need of urgent care, we kindly ask that you contact us to re-arrange your appointment.We thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Complaint’s policy:

At Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery, we always take complaints about any aspects of our services very seriously, in order to ensure that every patient has only the very best experience at all times.

Complaints can be made in writing by filling out a simple complaints form available from reception, or via email, by the patient or by an authorised person on the patient’s behalf. Complaints should be made to the ‘Complaints Manager’, and should be clear, so that they can be dealt with efficiently.

Every complaint will receive immediate written/email acknowledgment, and the Management will strive to resolve the complaint within a quick, reasonable period of time (usually about 2-4 weeks, dependant on the nature of the com). 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 charges it will normally be acknowledged by the Management team and then referred to the treating Dentist.

Please note that in these cases, Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery accepts no liability on behalf of the treating Dentist and acts as a liaison between the patient and the treating Dentist, only.

If you are unsatisfied with our internal handling of your complaint, you are free to forward your complaint to the Dental Complaints Service (www.dentalcomplaints.org.uk). If still unsatisfied, you may wish to forward your complaint to the General Dental Council.

No tolerance/Abuse policy

We operate a zero tolerance policy to abuse to our Dentists and team members. In these situations, Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery reserves the right to refuse treatment and admission to the clinic. 

Promotions

Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery occasionally runs special offers and promotions on treatments. These are subject to availability of appointments and suitability of the treatment for the patient, and we reserve the right to withdraw offers at any time.

Data Protection Act

We store all patient personal details on a secure computer system in accordance with the Data Protection Act & GDPR. All clinical notes, digital radiographs, digital photographs etc remain the property of Baycliff Dental & Implant Surgery. Copies of notes, radiographs and photographs can be made available on request, and we reserve the right to charge an administration fee for multiple and excessive requests for records.

If you would like to send us feedback, please email us at practicemanager@baycliffdentalsurgery.co.uk