Privacy Policy
Last updated: 26 August 2026
Sevenoaks Dental & Implant Centre respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, protect and share personal information when you visit our website, contact us, request an appointment or receive dental care from us.
We process personal information in accordance with applicable UK data protection and privacy legislation, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and other applicable legislation.
1. About Sevenoaks Dental & Implant Centre
For data protection purposes, the organisation responsible for your personal information is:
Sevenoaks Dental & Implant Centre
128 High Street
Sevenoaks
Kent
TN13 1XA
Telephone: 01732 600 111
Email: info@sevenoaks-dental.co.uk
Legal entity: [CONFIRM LEGAL COMPANY NAME]
ICO registration number: [CONFIRM ICO REGISTRATION NUMBER]
If you have questions about how we use your personal information, please contact us using the details above.
2. What Personal Information Do We Collect?
The information we collect depends on how you interact with the practice.
Website and Enquiry Information
If you contact us through our website, we may collect information such as:
- Your name
- Email address
- Telephone number
- Postcode or address
- Details of your enquiry
- Appointment preferences
- Information you choose to provide through an online form
Patient Information
If you become a patient, we may collect and maintain information necessary to provide safe and appropriate dental care.
This may include:
- Name and contact details
- Date of birth
- NHS number, where applicable
- Medical history
- Dental history
- Details of medication and allergies
- Clinical examination records
- Dental X-rays and radiographs
- Clinical photographs
- Digital scans and other diagnostic records
- Treatment plans
- Consent records
- Notes relating to consultations and treatment
- Appointment history
- Details of referrals
- Information relating to complaints
- Correspondence with you and other healthcare professionals
Financial Information
We may process information relating to treatment fees, payments, invoices and other financial records necessary to administer your account and meet our legal and accounting obligations.
Where payment is processed by a third-party payment provider, that provider may process your payment information in accordance with its own privacy notice.
3. Health Information
Information relating to your physical or mental health is classed as special category personal data under UK data protection law.
As a dental practice, we need to process relevant health and dental information to assess your needs, provide treatment, maintain appropriate clinical records and support continuity of care.
We only process health information where an appropriate legal condition applies.
We take additional steps to protect health information because dental records are confidential patient information.
4. How Do We Collect Your Information?
We may collect information:
- Directly from you when you contact the practice
- Through our website forms
- When you register as a patient
- During dental appointments
- By telephone, email or written correspondence
- From another healthcare professional involved in your care
- From a referring dentist or healthcare provider
- Through our website and its technologies, including cookies where applicable
If we receive information about you from another organisation, we will provide appropriate privacy information where required by law.
5. Why Do We Use Your Information?
We may use your personal information to:
- Respond to enquiries
- Arrange and manage appointments
- Register you as a patient
- Provide dental examination and treatment
- Maintain accurate clinical records
- Communicate with you about your dental care
- Provide treatment plans and estimates
- Arrange referrals and communicate with other healthcare professionals
- Provide information to dental laboratories where required for treatment
- Process payments and manage accounts
- Send appointment reminders and recall communications
- Manage complaints and concerns
- Maintain the quality and safety of our dental services
- Meet legal, professional and regulatory obligations
- Protect our website, systems, patients and staff
- Improve our website and services where permitted by law
6. Our Lawful Bases for Using Personal Information
We only process personal information where there is an appropriate lawful basis under UK data protection law.
Depending on the circumstances, these may include:
- Contract: where processing is necessary to provide services or take steps at your request before entering into an agreement.
- Legal obligation: where we are required to process information to comply with a legal or regulatory requirement.
- Legitimate interests: where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests and those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.
- Consent: where we ask you to provide consent for a specific use of your information.
- Vital interests: in limited circumstances where processing is necessary to protect someone’s life.
Where we process health information or other special category data, we also rely on an appropriate additional condition under UK data protection law.
7. Patient Confidentiality
Your dental records and information about your health and treatment are confidential.
We restrict access to patient information to people who need it for legitimate clinical, administrative or legal purposes.
We will only disclose confidential patient information where there is an appropriate legal, professional or clinical basis for doing so.
The General Dental Council requires dental professionals to protect patient confidentiality, keep patient information secure and only release confidential information without permission in exceptional circumstances. GDC guidance on protecting patient information.
8. Who May We Share Your Information With?
Where necessary and lawful, we may share relevant information with:
- Members of our dental team involved in your care
- Your GP or other healthcare professionals involved in your treatment
- Hospitals or specialist healthcare services
- Specialist dental services
- Dental laboratories
- NHS bodies and payment authorities where applicable
- Private dental or healthcare schemes where applicable
- IT and software providers supporting our practice
- Payment providers
- Professional advisers and insurers where appropriate
- Debt recovery providers where necessary and lawful
- Government authorities, regulators or law enforcement agencies where legally required
We aim to share only the minimum information necessary for the relevant purpose.
Where appropriate, we will explain to you when information needs to be shared with another healthcare professional involved in your care.
9. Dental Laboratories
If your treatment requires the services of a dental laboratory, we may provide relevant information such as treatment instructions, dental scans, photographs, impressions, models or other clinical information.
We only provide information that is necessary for the relevant treatment or service.
10. Referrals
If you are referred to another dental or healthcare professional, we may share relevant clinical information to support continuity of care.
This may include dental records, X-rays, photographs, treatment history and referral information where appropriate.
11. Appointment Reminders and Recall
We may use your contact details to send appointment reminders, recall communications and other information necessary for your ongoing dental care.
These communications may be sent by telephone, email, SMS, letter or another appropriate communication method.
12. Marketing Communications
We may occasionally provide information about services, treatment options, practice updates or offers.
Where consent is required for direct marketing, we will obtain the appropriate consent before sending marketing communications.
You can opt out of marketing communications at any time.
Opting out of marketing will not affect communications that are necessary for your dental care, appointments, treatment or other essential practice administration.
13. Website Contact Forms
If you submit information through a contact or enquiry form on our website, we will use the information to respond to your request.
Depending on the nature of your enquiry, we may contact you by telephone, email or another method you have provided.
Please avoid submitting detailed medical information through a general website contact form unless specifically requested.
14. Cookies
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies.
Some cookies may be necessary for the website to function correctly. Other cookies may be used for analytics, preferences or other purposes.
Where consent is required for non-essential cookies, we will ask for your consent before using them.
Our current cookie practices may change as website technologies and third-party services change.
For detailed information about cookies used on our website, please see our Cookie Policy.
15. Website Analytics
We may use website analytics services to understand how visitors use our website and to improve its performance and content.
Depending on the services currently installed on our website, analytics providers may process information such as device information, browser type, pages visited, approximate location and interactions with the website.
We will use non-essential analytics technologies in accordance with applicable cookie and data protection requirements.
16. CCTV
We may operate CCTV at the practice for purposes such as patient, visitor and staff safety, security and the prevention or investigation of crime.
CCTV footage is handled securely and retained only for as long as necessary in accordance with our CCTV and data retention procedures.
For further information, please contact the practice.
17. How We Protect Your Information
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information from accidental loss, unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction.
These measures may include:
- Secure practice systems
- Access controls
- Password protection
- Staff confidentiality procedures
- Secure storage of paper records
- Secure electronic systems
- Routine backups
- Security procedures for our practice premises
- Staff training and data protection procedures
We regularly review our information security arrangements and take reasonable steps to protect confidential patient information.
18. Cloud and IT Service Providers
Some of our practice systems may use cloud-based software or hosting services.
Where an external organisation processes personal information on our behalf, we take appropriate steps to ensure that suitable contractual, technical and organisational safeguards are in place.
19. International Transfers
Some of the technology providers we use may process information outside the United Kingdom.
Where personal information is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that an appropriate legal mechanism and safeguards are in place where required by applicable data protection law.
20. How Long Do We Keep Your Information?
We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it is processed, unless a longer period is required or permitted by law.
Dental records may need to be retained for an appropriate period because of clinical, professional, legal and regulatory requirements.
Different types of information may therefore have different retention periods.
When information is no longer required, it will be securely deleted, destroyed or anonymised where appropriate.
Practice confirmation required: The previous privacy policy stated that patient records were retained for 10 years after the last visit or until the patient reached 25, whichever was longer. This retention period should be checked against the practice’s current record-retention policy before being published on the new website.
21. Your Data Protection Rights
Depending on the circumstances and subject to legal exemptions, you may have rights under UK data protection law including the right to:
- Be informed about how we use your personal information
- Request access to personal information we hold about you
- Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
- Request erasure of certain information
- Request restriction of processing in certain circumstances
- Object to certain processing
- Request transfer of certain personal information to another organisation where the right to data portability applies
- Withdraw consent where we rely on consent as our lawful basis
Some of these rights are subject to exceptions, particularly where information needs to be retained for legal, regulatory or clinical reasons.
22. Access to Your Dental Records
You have rights under data protection law to request access to personal information and dental records that we hold about you.
Requests should be made using the contact details below.
We will handle requests in accordance with applicable data protection law.
The General Dental Council confirms that patients have rights to access their dental records under data protection legislation. Read the GDC guidance.
23. Correcting Your Information
If you believe information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, please contact us and provide details of the information you believe needs correcting.
We will consider your request and update information where appropriate.
24. Requests to Delete Information
You may request that we delete personal information in certain circumstances.
However, the right to erasure is not absolute.
For example, we may need to retain dental and clinical records where there is a legal, professional or clinical requirement to do so.
25. Withdrawing Consent
Where we rely on your consent to process personal information, you can withdraw your consent at any time.
Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.
26. Children and Young People
We take particular care when processing information relating to children and young people.
Where appropriate, we may communicate with a parent, guardian or person with appropriate authority in accordance with applicable law and professional requirements.
27. Automated Decision-Making
We do not currently use personal information to make decisions about your dental treatment solely through automated decision-making without appropriate human involvement.
If this changes, we will update this Privacy Policy where required.
28. Third-Party Websites
Our website may contain links to third-party websites, including healthcare organisations, payment providers, social media platforms or other services.
Those websites operate under their own privacy policies and terms.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party websites.
29. Data Breaches
If we become aware of a personal data breach, we will assess the incident and take appropriate action in accordance with applicable data protection law.
Where required, we will notify the Information Commissioner’s Office and affected individuals within the applicable legal timeframes.
30. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy when our services, technology, legal requirements or data processing activities change.
When we make significant changes, we will update the date shown at the top of this page and provide additional information where required.
31. Contact Us About Privacy
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we use your personal information, please contact:
Sevenoaks Dental & Implant Centre
128 High Street
Sevenoaks
Kent
TN13 1XA
Email: info@sevenoaks-dental.co.uk
Telephone: 01732 600 111
Data Protection Contact: [CONFIRM CURRENT DATA PROTECTION CONTACT / DPO DETAILS]
32. Complaints About Data Protection
If you have concerns about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first so that we have an opportunity to investigate and respond to your concern.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent supervisory authority for data protection.
Information Commissioner’s Office
Website: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
The ICO provides information about your data protection rights and how to make a complaint.
33. Related Policies
You may also wish to read our: