1. Introduction

This Grace Dental Care privacy policy explains how Grace Dental Care (“we”, “us”, or “our”) collects, uses, and protects your personal information. It applies to all visitors and patients who use our website www.gracedentalcare.co.uk or engage with any of our practices in Hartlepool, Billingham, Darlington, and Stockton-on-Tees.

We take your privacy seriously and handle your data in full compliance with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. If you have any questions about this policy, please contact us at gracedentalhartlepool@gmail.com.

2. What Information Do We Collect?

Information you provide

We collect personal information that you give us when you book an appointment, submit an enquiry, or contact one of our practices. This may include your name, email address, phone number, date of birth, address, and details relevant to your dental care. Where you apply for patient finance, we may also collect additional financial and identification information required to process your application.

Information we collect automatically

Our website automatically collects certain technical data when you visit, including your IP address, browser type, device details, operating system, and information about how you navigate the site. We use this data to maintain security, improve the performance of our website, and to measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns.

We also gather information through cookies and similar technologies. Our Cookie Policy sets out full details on how we use these and how you can manage your preferences.

3. How Do We Use Your Information?

We use the information we collect to:

• Respond to your appointment requests and general enquiries
• Deliver and manage dental services across our Hartlepool, Billingham, Darlington, and Stockton-on-Tees practices
• Process applications for patient finance on your behalf through our finance partners (see Section 9)
• Keep our website secure and running smoothly
• Meet our legal and regulatory obligations as a dental practice
• Improve our services through internal analysis
• Run targeted advertising campaigns on platforms including Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google Ads, and potentially YouTube
• Request and manage patient reviews for service improvement and marketing purposes
• Share patient photography and video content on our social media channels for educational and marketing purposes, where you have provided explicit consent

We process your data on the basis of legitimate business interests, contractual necessity, legal obligation, or your consent — whichever applies in each case.

4. Do We Share Your Information?

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data. We share your information only in the following limited circumstances:

Third-party service providers

We work with trusted suppliers who support services such as website hosting, email delivery, payment processing, and advertising. All third parties are contractually bound to handle your data securely and only for the purposes we specify. This includes advertising platforms such as Meta and Google, which may use certain data (such as email addresses or phone numbers) to serve targeted advertisements. You can manage your ad preferences directly through those platforms.

Patient finance providers

Where you apply for patient finance, we share the personal and financial information necessary to process your application with our authorised finance partners. We currently work with Snowbird Finance (also known as Payment Assist) and Tabeo. These providers act as independent data controllers in respect of your finance application and will process your data in accordance with their own privacy policies. We recommend reviewing those policies before submitting a finance application.

Review platforms

We may contact you via email or SMS to invite you to leave a review of your experience at Grace Dental Care. Your contact details are used solely for this purpose and are not shared with third-party review platforms beyond what is necessary to facilitate the invitation.

Legal obligations

We disclose information where the law, a court order, or a regulatory authority requires us to do so.

Safety and fraud prevention

We may share data where disclosure is necessary to protect the safety of any individual or to prevent or detect fraud.

5. Advertising and Marketing

We run paid advertising campaigns on Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram), Google Ads, and may in future run campaigns on YouTube. To support these campaigns, we may use certain contact details — such as email addresses or phone numbers — to create custom audiences or to reach people with similar characteristics to our existing patients. This is done using the advertising platforms’ own tools (such as Meta Custom Audiences or Google Customer Match).

You can opt out of receiving direct marketing from us at any time by contacting us at gracedentalhartlepool@gmail.com. You can also manage your advertising preferences directly through your Meta and Google account settings.

6. Patient Photography and Social Media

From time to time, we may photograph or film patients for educational or marketing purposes, including for use on our website and social media channels such as Instagram and Facebook. We will always obtain your explicit written consent before taking, using, or publishing any images or videos in which you are identifiable.

You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. If you do so, we will remove your images or videos from our channels as soon as reasonably practicable. To withdraw consent, please contact us at gracedentalhartlepool@gmail.com.

7. Patient Reviews

We may contact you following your appointment to invite you to share a review of your experience at Grace Dental Care. This helps us improve our services and assists prospective patients in making informed decisions about their care. Participation is entirely voluntary.

If you would prefer not to receive review requests, please let a member of our team know or contact us at gracedentalhartlepool@gmail.com.

8. Patient Finance Applications

We offer patient finance options to help spread the cost of dental treatment. Where you choose to apply for finance, we will collect and share the personal and financial information required to process your application with our authorised finance partners, currently Snowbird Finance (Payment Assist) and Tabeo.

These providers are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and will carry out their own identity and credit checks as part of the application process. By submitting a finance application, you consent to your data being shared with and processed by the relevant provider. Please refer to their privacy policies for full details of how they use your information.

We do not make lending decisions ourselves and are not responsible for the outcome of any finance application.

9. Do We Use Cookies?

Yes. Our website uses cookies and similar technologies such as web beacons and pixels to collect and store information. This includes advertising pixels from Meta and Google, which help us measure the performance of our campaigns and serve relevant adverts to people who have visited our site. You can set your browser to block or remove cookies, though doing so may affect how certain features of our website function. For full details, refer to our Cookie Policy.

10. How Long Do We Keep Your Information?

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this policy, or as the law requires. For general website enquiries, we hold data for no longer than 90 days.

Patient records fall under NHS and General Dental Council (GDC) guidance, which sets out specific retention periods for clinical records.

Once data is no longer needed, we securely delete or anonymise it.

11. Do We Collect Data From Minors?

Our website is not directed at children under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe we hold information about a child, please contact us immediately at gracedentalhartlepool@gmail.com and we will delete it promptly.

12. Your Privacy Rights Under UK GDPR

UK data protection law gives you the following rights:

• Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data
• Erasure — request deletion of your data in certain circumstances
• Restriction — ask us to limit how we process your data
• Objection — object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Withdrawal of consent — withdraw consent at any time where processing relies on it

To exercise any of these rights, email us at gracedentalhartlepool@gmail.com. We aim to respond within 30 days.

If you believe we are handling your data unlawfully, you can raise a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

13. Do-Not-Track Signals

Our website does not currently respond to Do-Not-Track (DNT) browser signals, as no uniform technical standard for these signals exists. Should an industry standard be adopted, we will update this policy to reflect our approach.

14. Do We Update This Policy?

We review and update this Grace Dental privacy policy periodically to reflect changes in the law or our practices. The date at the top of this page always shows when we last made changes. We encourage you to check back regularly to stay informed.

15. How to Contact Us

For any questions or concerns about this policy, please get in touch:

enquiries@gracedental.co.uk