Terms and conditions

These terms apply to treatment and care provided at Sale Dental Spa, 77 Washway Road, Sale, Manchester M33 7TQ. They sit alongside the information your dentist gives you about your own treatment. If anything here is unclear, ask us and we will explain it.

1. Treatment plans and estimates

Your treatment plan is prescribed by your treating dentist and may be presented, discussed and coordinated with you by a member of our patient care team. You will always have your plan in writing, with every price, before any treatment goes ahead.

Treatment plans remain valid for 90 days. Once a deposit is placed, the quoted price is held for you. If clinical findings mean the plan needs to change, we will tell you at your appointment or by email or telephone, and you will have a revised plan in writing before further treatment goes ahead.

2. Consent

Some treatments need your written consent. Before you sign, your dentist will explain what the treatment involves, what the aftercare is, and what the risks and alternatives are.

You may withdraw consent before treatment starts or while it is underway, and your clinician will stop as soon as it is safe to do so. Consent cannot be withdrawn for treatment that has already been completed. A clinician may also decline to start or continue treatment where it is not clinically appropriate, and will explain why.

3. Fees and payment

Fees are due on the day treatment is provided. We do not run accounts. Staged payments are available for some treatments, such as implants, clear aligners and the Gum Health Programme, arranged in advance as part of your plan.

We accept cash, debit and credit cards other than American Express, and Klarna. Cheques are accepted only by prior agreement. Where an account remains unpaid and we have been unable to reach an arrangement with you, it may be referred to a debt collection agency or the small claims court.

Finance

Finance is available on treatment plans of £750 or more, excluding emergency care, and is arranged through Tabeo. Finance is subject to status and affordability. Once a finance agreement is signed, the provider’s own cancellation terms apply.

Sale Dental Spa is a trading name of Aisha Ahmed, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FRN 672980. We act as a credit broker, not a lender, and offer finance products from Tabeo.

Deposits

Every private appointment, including continuing treatment, carries a deposit. The standard rate is £1 per minute for appointments under 60 minutes, or £100 per hour for appointments of 60 minutes or more, credited in full against treatment. Free consultations have a fixed £20 booking deposit. This applies to the Smile Design Consultation, the Missing Teeth Consultation (Implants), the Professional Teeth Whitening Consult, the Clear Aligners Consultation, the Teen Clear Aligner Consultation and the Skin Health Consultation. It is credited against treatment if you go ahead, or refunded when you attend if you do not. Deposits are retained for missed appointments or cancellation with less than the two full business days’ notice explained below. NHS appointments do not carry deposits or missed-appointment fees.

The £35 New Patient Exam is paid in full when you book. It is refunded in full if you give two full business days’ notice, and kept after that.

New patients always pay upfront when they book. The £99 Airflow Spa Clean and the £100 root canal consultation are also paid in full when you book online. Prepaid fees are refunded if you give at least two full business days’ notice. There is no refund if you miss the appointment or cancel with less notice. Emergency appointments booked online are £40, paid in full when you book, and cannot be refunded once booked. The £100 root canal consultation fee comes off your treatment if you go ahead.

4. Cancellations and missed appointments

We ask for at least two full business days’ notice if you need to change or cancel an appointment. That time lets us offer the appointment to someone else, often someone in pain.

Business days are Monday to Friday, and both days must fall before the day of your appointment. For an appointment on Thursday morning, that means hearing from you by the end of Monday. For an appointment on Monday, it means the end of the previous Wednesday.

Where an appointment is missed, or cancelled with less than that notice, the deposit is retained. Private patients without a deposit on file may be charged at the deposit rates above. Membership patients may be charged a rebooking fee or use one of their included visits for the year.

Things go wrong in people’s lives and we would always rather hear from you than not. If something has happened, tell us and we will look at it sensibly.

Children’s appointments: Was Not Brought

When a child’s appointment is missed, we record it as “Was Not Brought” rather than as a failure to attend. The distinction matters. A child cannot bring themselves to the dentist, so a missed appointment is never the child’s responsibility, and treating it as one would be both unfair and unhelpful.

Most missed appointments have an ordinary explanation and we will simply rebook. Where appointments for a child are repeatedly missed, dental care is part of a child’s wider health and wellbeing, and we may follow our safeguarding procedures. That can include contacting other professionals involved in that child’s care, such as their GP, health visitor or school nurse, in line with our safeguarding policy and our duties as healthcare professionals.

This is not a penalty and it is not an accusation. It is how we make sure a child who needs dental care actually receives it. If you are finding it difficult to get your child to appointments, for any reason at all, please talk to us. We would much rather help you find a time that works than record a series of missed visits.

5. Late arrivals

If you arrive more than five minutes late for an appointment of 30 minutes or less, we may need to rearrange it. This is so the patients booked after you are not kept waiting.

6. Personal details and medical history

Please give us a complete medical history, including all medicines you take, and tell us whenever anything changes. Your medical history is reviewed at least once a year. Some medical conditions and medicines directly affect what treatment is safe for you, so this genuinely matters.

7. Treatment guarantee

We guarantee fillings, crowns and bridgework for 12 months, provided that the treatment has been paid for in full, the tooth has not been damaged by accident, trauma or grinding, you have followed the aftercare you were given, and you have attended your recommended examinations.

The guarantee does not apply to composite bonding or veneers. How long cosmetic work lasts depends heavily on how it is looked after day to day, on diet, and on whether you grind or clench your teeth, so it is not covered on the same terms. Your clinician will tell you before you go ahead what to reasonably expect from your own case and what maintenance it will need. We would rather set that expectation properly at the start than have you find out later.

Further treatment that becomes necessary later, for example root canal treatment on a tooth that has previously been filled, is a separate treatment and is charged separately.

8. Use of images and radiographs

We may use photographs and radiographs of your teeth and smile for educational and marketing purposes, on our website, on social media and in practice materials. We only do so with your written consent. Where we show your case, we use your first name and the first letter of your surname only, never your full name. You can withdraw that consent at any time by telling us, and we will remove the images from anything we control.

9. Contacting you

We use your contact details to send appointment reminders and recall notices and to keep you informed about your care. We will only send you marketing communications if you have separately agreed to receive them. Every marketing message includes a way to unsubscribe, and you can also ask any member of the team to remove you.

10. Complaints

If something has gone wrong, we want to know. Please put your complaint in writing by emailing the practice at reception@saledentalspa.co.uk, or by post. We will acknowledge it within 3 working days and aim to send you a full response within 10 working days. If it will take longer, we will tell you why and update you at least every 10 days.

Complaints about clinical treatment are referred to the treating dentist, who is responsible for their own clinical care. Sale Dental Spa acts as liaison in those cases.

If you are unhappy with our response, you can take it further:

• Private treatment: the Dental Complaints Service at dcs.gdc-uk.org
• NHS treatment: NHS Greater Manchester, which you can also complain to instead of us, or the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman at ombudsman.org.uk
• Concerns about a clinician’s conduct or fitness to practise: the General Dental Council

Our complaints page has the full process and contact details.

Read our complaints process

11. NHS patients

We are not currently taking on new NHS patients. New patients are welcome to join us privately, and our new patient exam is £35. What follows applies to patients already receiving NHS care with us, and NHS terms and charges apply to that treatment.

If you miss an NHS appointment, or cancel it with less than the notice set out in section 4, we will write to let you know. If it happens a second time within 24 months, we may remove you from our list for routine NHS care. Where that happens we will tell you in writing and explain how to find another practice.

Children are not removed from the list for missed appointments. We follow the approach set out in section 4 instead, because a child who is not being brought to appointments needs support rather than removal.

If you have not attended for two years or more, your NHS registration will lapse and you would need to register again to be seen.

Emergency care remains available to you regardless of any of the above.

12. Parking

There is parking at the practice, though we cannot guarantee a space at any given time. We accept no liability for loss or damage to vehicles or their contents.

13. Personal property

We accept no liability for loss or damage to personal property on or around the premises.

14. Behaviour in the practice

Our team looks after people all day and is entitled to do so without being shouted at. We operate a zero tolerance policy on abuse, threatening behaviour and disruptive conduct, and we reserve the right to refuse treatment and access to the premises.

15. Promotions

Any promotion or offer is subject to appointment availability and to clinical suitability. Treatment is only ever provided where it is right for you.

16. Your records and your data

Your personal data is held securely and handled in line with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Your clinical records remain the property of the practice. You have the right to a copy, and our privacy policy explains how to ask for one and what your other rights are.

Read our privacy policy

17. Spa Membership

Our Spa Membership is £29.99 a month, or £329 a year, collected by Direct Debit through Patient Plan Direct (PPD), who run the plan for us. There is a 12-month minimum term and an £8 joining fee, taken with your first Direct Debit. What the plan includes is set out on our membership page and in your plan documents from PPD, whose own terms also apply.

If you miss an appointment, or cancel with less than two full business days’ notice, we may charge a rebooking fee or count it as one of your included visits for the year.

18. Gift vouchers

Gift vouchers can be used until the expiry date shown on the voucher, by the person they were bought for or anyone they pass them to. They cannot be refunded or exchanged for cash. If a voucher is only partly used, the rest stays on your account as credit.