Privacy Policy

We may collect and process the following personal data:

• Identity data: name, date of birth, gender
• Contact data: address, email address, telephone number
• Health data: medical history, dental records, treatment notes, radiographs and clinical photographs (this is special category data under UK GDPR)
• Financial data: payment records (we do not store full card details)
• Communications: emails, contact form submissions and notes from telephone calls
• Technical data: IP address, browser type and basic analytics when you visit our website

We collect data when you:

• Register as a new patient or complete a medical history form
• Book or attend an appointment
• Contact us by phone, email or through our website contact form
• Use our website (via cookies and analytics)
• Are referred to us by another healthcare provider

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

• Providing dental care: maintaining clinical records, planning and delivering treatment
• Appointment management: booking, confirming and reminding you of appointments
• Billing and payments: processing payments and issuing receipts
• Legal compliance: meeting our obligations under GDC regulations, CQC standards and NHS/private practice requirements
• Referrals: referring you to specialists, laboratories or other healthcare providers when clinically required
• Communication: responding to enquiries and sending recall reminders

We process your personal data on the following legal bases under UK GDPR:

• Contract: where processing is necessary to provide you with dental services
• Legal obligation: where we are required to process data by law (e.g. GDC record-keeping obligations)
• Legitimate interests: for practice administration and improving our services
• Vital interests: to protect your health in an emergency
• Consent: for marketing communications and optional uses — you may withdraw consent at any time

For special category data (health records), we rely on Article 9(2)(h) UK GDPR — processing necessary for the provision of health or social care treatment.

We may share your data with:

• Dental laboratories — for the fabrication of crowns, bridges and other restorations
• Specialist referrals — periodontists, oral surgeons, endodontists as clinically required
• Your GP or other NHS/private healthcare providers where relevant to your care
• Payment processors — solely for the purpose of processing your payment
• Regulatory bodies — GDC, CQC or NHS Business Services Authority where legally required
• IT and software providers who support the running of our practice (bound by data processing agreements)

We never sell your personal data to third parties or share it for marketing purposes.

We retain dental records in line with the following guidance:

• Adult patient records: minimum 11 years from the date of last treatment
• Children's records: until the patient reaches age 25, or 11 years after last treatment if longer
• Clinical photographs and radiographs: retained as part of the dental record
• Financial records: 7 years in accordance with HMRC requirements
• Enquiry data (non-patients): 12 months

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights:

• Right of access: to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Right to rectification: to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to erasure: in certain circumstances, to request deletion of your data
• Right to restrict processing: to request we limit how we use your data
• Right to data portability: to receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
• Right to object: to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing
• Rights related to automated decision-making: we do not use automated decision-making or profiling

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@bowlinggreendental.co.uk or call 01438 355624. We will respond within 30 days.

Our website uses essential cookies to enable basic functionality. We may also use analytics cookies (e.g. Google Analytics) to understand how visitors use our site. You can control cookie preferences through your browser settings.

We take the security of your personal data seriously. We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data from unauthorised access, loss or disclosure. Clinical records are stored in a secure, access-controlled practice management system.

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, please contact us in the first instance. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The date of the most recent revision appears at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.