TERMS &
CONDITIONS
Welcome to Monument Dental Studio! We appreciate the confidence and trust that you have placed in us. Please know that your needs are our highest priority. We welcome new patients and are committed to doing everything possible to provide you with high-quality dental care at an affordable price and to make your visit to our office as pleasant and comfortable as possible.
Private Terms of Business
These Terms of Business apply to any private treatments and services provided to patients. Please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Care Team if you have any questions.
Current Version | 1 September 2021
Children:
From a young age, we urge youngsters to register and attend our practice. All of our locations provide a comprehensive range of private dental treatments as well as membership packages tailored to children and families. On request, we will schedule appointments so that all family members can attend at the same time. When more than one kid is present, we ask that two adult family members come to care for children who are waiting in the patient lounge, if at all feasible. Any patient under the age of 18 at the time of treatment is considered a kid. All patients under the age of 16 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian for the length of their appointments. In no section of our procedures should children under the age of 16 be left alone.
Complaints:
We appreciate your comments on our service and, in particular, any difficulties you may have had so that we may address them and improve our service in the future. Please contact a member of our staff if you have a complaint about any part of our service, and we will do our utmost to resolve your issues as soon as possible. If we are unable to meet your expectations, you may choose to file a complaint by phone or in writing. We recommend utilising the following contact information to speed up the procedure.
Monument Dental Studio
79 Broadway, Peterborough PE1 4DA
contact@monumentdentalstudio.co.uk
+441733306326
Within two working days, we will recognise your complaint and react completely within ten working days. If you’re still unhappy, you can ask for your complaint to be escalated to a Director. We will accept your request within two working days and respond to you within twenty working days.
If we are not able to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction then you may wish to contact the Dental Complaints Service, Stephenson House, 2 Cherry Orchard Road, Croydon, CR0 6BA (Telephone: 020 8253 0800).
Consent:
You will be given a treatment estimate sheet for your planned course of therapy in all but the simplest kinds of treatment. When your Treatment Estimate is provided to you, we will ask you to sign it. This is to ensure that you understand it and to confirm that you have received the Treatment Estimate. It also indicates that you agree to follow our Terms of Business and pay the specified fees if treatment goes through. It does not bind you to any fees or compel you to undergo any therapy in any manner.
It’s critical to remember that the prices shown are estimates, and that the actual treatment expenses may be more or lower than the initial estimate. If expenses alter as treatment advances, we will always keep you aware and ask you how you want to proceed. Following your assessment or treatment planning appointment, you will be given this document. Without a signed treatment estimate, a course of therapy cannot begin.
Your physician should have previously explained the treatment choices available to you, but if you have any questions, please contact our team, who will be delighted to assist you. They will direct you to your attending clinician if required. You may be given extra information in addition to your treatment estimate for complex therapies to offer you with further information.
For a period of 90 days, your Treatment Estimate is valid. A new Therapy Estimate may be necessary if you do not complete the treatment during this time or if your medical conditions have changed. We may request that you meet with your doctor again so that a new Treatment Estimate can be generated. Additional papers, such as a treatment report or planning letter, a permission agreement, and/or a payment schedule, may be supplied for some sophisticated treatments. You may be required to sign some of these documents. These are required as part of the consent procedure, and you should read them carefully and save copies for your records.
Contact Information:
It’s critical that we keep your contact information up to date so that we can contact you immediately if there’s an issue with your appointments or if we have questions about your treatment. We will always ask for your postal address, email address, a daytime contact phone number, and a cell phone number as a bare minimum. For appointment reminders, we have a policy of recording an email address and a mobile phone number.
We are required to keep all of your information in absolute confidence and will never sell it to other parties. Your information will only be shared with a third party with your explicit agreement in the context of your dental health or treatment, and only if we are required to do so by law.
Contacting Us:
You can reach out to us in a variety of ways. These can be done in writing, by email, or over the phone. If you call us to talk about your medical records, treatment, or personal information, we retain the right to ask you a few simple questions to verify your identification.
We will not send you sensitive medical information through email unless you have given us your express consent. Permission must be obtained in writing (including through email), in person, or over the phone. For more information on who we will share your records or treatment with, see DISCUSSING YOUR RECORDS OR TREATMENT WITH OTHERS. Please be aware that all of our incoming and outgoing phone calls are recorded for training and monitoring reasons.
Contacting You:
APPOINTMENT CONFIRMATIONS AND REMINDERS
We send appointment confirmations by default when you make a reservation. Please let us know if you would prefer a written or electronic confirmation. Text message appointment reminders are delivered on the day of booking. We then SMS a second appointment reminder two days before to the appointment. If we don’t have a cell number on file, we’ll send you an email in two days instead. Please keep in mind that you are solely responsible for arriving at the practice on time and on schedule. Whether or whether reminders were successfully given, our SHORT TERM CANCELLATIONS & FAILURE TO ATTEND rules apply.
We apologise that we are unable to provide customised appointment reminders over the phone.
TREATMENT LETTERS AND OTHER CORRESPONDENCE
We may need to write to you about your treatment or oral health on occasion. Unless you expressly request otherwise, we usually do so by email. We cannot guarantee that email correspondence is secure. You should make sure that only you have access to your email address and that you do not share it with anybody else. Using a work or business email address for this reason is not recommended.
PLANNED TREATMENT
We urge that all patients make treatment appointments at the time they are prescribed to ensure that recommended therapy may be provided at a time and date that is convenient for them. We will contact patients who are unable to do so to remind them that scheduled therapy is excellent. We do so in a number of ways.
ROUTINE CONSULTATIONS
We advise all patients to make any future appointments necessary at the conclusion of each consultation to ensure that they may obtain a date and time that is convenient for them. Patients who are unable to do so will be contacted to remind them that they are due for a routine consultation if one has not yet been scheduled. We do so in a number of ways.
APPOINTMENT FOLLOW-UP
Following an appointment, we may contact you via a number of means to follow up on the service you received. This may be an invitation to participate in a survey or just a chance to give us with feedback.
MARKETING
On a regular basis, we send out an email newsletter to our patients. We also send you special discounts or information about events at the office via email on occasion. You may opt out of receiving marketing communications from us by clicking the Unsubscribe link in any marketing email. You will not be contacted for marketing reasons again if you opt out. Please keep in mind that special offers delivered through email will be ineligible for you.
Your email address will be kept in your medical records for appointment reminders, confirmations, and treatment-related contact even if you opt out of marketing mailings.
Data Protection:
We take our responsibility to protect the confidentiality and integrity of your medical records very seriously. To that end, we employ a variety of methods and controls to safeguard your information, including secure computer databases and extensive data protection training for all of our doctors and employees. It is our objective to keep medical records as computerised as feasible. Because paper records are prone to mistake or loss, we try to avoid using them wherever feasible.
It’s possible that you’ll be asked to fill out paperwork electronically. Receiving treatment or services from us necessitates this. At any time, you have the right to see and get a copy of the medical records we have on file for you. If you need a copy of your records or radiographs, there is usually a modest charge for this service. Please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Customer Care Team if you have any queries concerning your medical records.
Debts:
Should we discover that you owe us money, we shall request that you pay it as soon as possible. We may also refuse to offer any more treatments or services until the balance has been resolved. Patients who owe money receive a statement in the mail (and, if appropriate, through email) with a request for payment on a monthly basis. To collect money due, we will always take all legal measures accessible to us. It is critical that you contact us as soon as possible if you have any issues regarding your account.
Deposits & Payment Timings:
A number of the therapies we perform, particularly surgical procedures, need a substantial time and material investment in terms of preparation. The materials we buy and utilise for many treatments are unique to the patient and the therapy being administered. Furthermore, the clinical team will devote substantial time to planning the therapy in order to guarantee that our high standards are regularly maintained. As a result, we require a deposit or advance fee for all services under the following conditions.
CONSULTATIONS
Consultation fees must be paid in advance at the time of scheduling. Before this amount is paid, we will be unable to confirm an appointment date or time. The consultation fee will be lost if you cancel your appointment at the last minute or fail to show up. Any rescheduled appointment will incur a second fee. SHORT NOTICE CANCELLATIONS & FAILURE TO ATTEND are covered in the section SHORT NOTICE CANCELLATIONS & FAILURE TO ATTEND.
DENTAL IMPLANT TREATMENT
Prior to scheduling any treatment appointments, a deposit of £500 or 10% of the total treatment cost, whichever is greater, is needed. Treatment fees are then collected in advance of each step, in accordance with your Payment Schedule. The deposit will be kept on file and applied to your total treatment bill. The deposit will be applied to any leftover expenses if you decide to stop treatment at any point.
Until your final therapy visit, you must keep this credit on your account. If your credit falls below this threshold, we will demand an extra payment on account before scheduling any future visits. The above does not apply to treatments that are paid in whole through Patient Finance.
INVISALIGN TREATMENT
Prior to scheduling your ClinCheck consultation, a £500 payment is necessary. If you cancel your ClinCheck appointment, we will refund your money, subject to our SHORT TERM CANCELLATIONS & FAILURE TO ATTEND policy. The above does not apply to treatments that are paid in whole through Patient Finance. Before your treatment may begin, you must pay the entire cost.
OTHER TREATMENTS
Treatment fees must be paid in advance when making a reservation. Before this amount is paid, we will be unable to confirm an appointment date or time. Normally, we will request payment of the whole treatment price, regardless of whether therapy is spread out across many sessions. We may ask for payments in stages for certain highly complicated procedures. The above does not apply to treatments that are paid in whole through Patient Finance.
Discussing Your Records Or Treatments With Others:
We recognise that many of our patients will want us to discuss their appointments or treatments with their family or friends. A patient, for example, may request that we share their visits with their spouse. However, we have a strong non-disclosure policy in place to safeguard the privacy of our patients.
Except for you, our employees and clinicians will not disclose any element of your personal information with anybody else. If you want us to talk about your treatment with other people, we’ll need your written permission. This applies to your appointments, medical records, and any other element of our connection. We will accept notice to cancel a single appointment from a member of your family in extreme circumstances to allow you to cancel an appointment in an emergency.
If you want us to talk to your family about your treatment, you must give us your permission by filling out and submitting a Data Disclosure Form, on which you must list the people or organisations you want us to communicate to. You must explain what you are willing to discuss with us and whether this authorization is permanent or temporary. You can also offer this authority in writing or through email from the email address we have on file for you. You have the right to cancel any consent you have granted us at any time by contacting us.
Please be aware that we may be compelled by law to share your medical data and/or personal information to certain agencies or government organisations in certain circumstances. For example, in the course of an inquiry, we may be obliged to provide some information to the police. These obligations are not subject to your consent, and we are not obligated to tell you that a request for information has been received and/or completed in many circumstances. We shall, of course, discuss our kid patients’ treatment with their parents or legal guardians.
Emergency Dental Care:
If necessary, we try to accommodate all registered dental patients with an emergency same-day appointment. We will provide adequate cover with an alternative practise if there is no duty dentist during working hours. Emergency same-day appointments are not available to patients who have been designated as inactive.
Inactive Patients:
Patients who have been designated as inactive will not be called for routine consultations and are not expected to return to the clinic on a regular basis. If you request it or if you haven’t visited the office for a consultation in the last 24 months, we’ll designate you as inactive. When a patient is categorised as inactive, we do not send them a letter to inform them. This guideline does not apply to Members, who will be marked as active patients as long as their membership is active.
You are invited to attend the practise at any time in the future, regardless of your status. Please note that inactive patients may be asked to attend a New Patient Consultation – for which we will charge our regular fee – before receiving further treatment to verify that the right therapy is provided.
New Patients:
We are always happy to welcome new patients to Monument Dental Studio and we want to make sure they have a positive experience. When you first contact us, one of our Treatment Co-ordinators will ask you about your dental health and goals, and will assist you choose the best doctor for your initial consultation. In most cases, new patients will be requested to schedule an Initial Consultation with one of our dentists. This appointment allows the dental surgeon to examine your teeth, gums, and mouth thoroughly, as well as have a preliminary discussion with you regarding your oral health and the look of your smile.
You will be able to ask any questions or address any issues you may have. Your dentist will frequently request that you have a radiographic examination (X-ray). This might be a panoramic x-ray or a ‘standard’ intra-oral dental x-ray (OPG or CT-Scan). Only a few practises offer OPGs and CT scans, and you may be referred to one if necessary.
During the Initial Consultation or later, you may be asked to consent to an x-ray. If an x-ray is necessary, the procedure will be thoroughly explained to you. To offset the expenses of the modern technology we employ, we charge a fee for specific types of x-rays. Any fees that are needed will be fully communicated to you before the x-ray is done. An Initial Consultation may not be necessary if you are a new patient simply seeking treatment from a dental hygienist. In any event, we strongly advise all new patients to come in for an Initial Consultation in order to preserve their dental health.
Payment Terms:
For all treatment courses, we require a deposit or prepayment in advance. For further information, see DEPOSITS & PAYMENT TIMINGS. We accept the following payment methods: Mastercard and Visa, as well as credit and debit cards, are accepted. We apologise that we no longer accept payments by cash or check.
Refunds:
We will offer a refund to the original debit or credit card used to make the payment if you require one for any reason. If this is not possible, a direct bank transfer will be made. Please keep in mind that refunds might take up to 7 working days to process from the time they are requested. After your refund has been approved, there may be a brief wait before it is paid to your account. We are unable to issue cash or check refunds under any circumstances.
Routine Consultations:
Recall appointments, also known as routine consultations, are critical to the continuous care of your oral health. We generally advise patients who are not having treatment to invest in their oral health by scheduling at least one dental visit and one hygiene consultation each year. Your clinical team will prescribe the exact number and schedule of routine visits, which will alter over time as your health and circumstances change. It is, of course, entirely voluntary to attend a normal consultation. However, we will usually only keep a patient on our records as active if they attend appointments on a regular basis (see INACTIVE PATIENTS).
Short Notice Cancellations & Failure To Attend:
If you cancel or fail to show up for an appointment on short notice, you are depriving other patients of clinical time and causing substantial disturbance to the office. We have a procedure in place to handle last-minute cancellations and missed appointments in order to provide the best possible experience for all of our patients. For a number of reasons, we understand that patients will need to cancel or reschedule appointments. Please give us at least 24 hours notice if you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, except weekends and holidays.
We require 72 hours notice if you are attending a dental implant implantation appointment, excluding weekends and holidays. If you cancel on a Friday afternoon for a Monday morning appointment, for example, you will not have given us the necessary notice. If you fail to show up for an appointment or cancel it without sufficient notice, we may charge you £200 per hour missed or cancelled on short notice, or we may keep all or part of any advance paid for the relevant appointment as a fee, in our discretion.
Alternatively, we may ask you to pay in advance to reserve your next appointment at our discretion; the amount paid will be applied to the cost of your next appointment when you arrive. We also have the right to reject treatment to individuals who consistently cancel or fail to show up for appointments. Members are not exempt from this policy, although they may be forced to pay a deposit in advance of any future consultations.
It is possible that the clinic will need to postpone your meetings with us on occasion. We will always make every effort to provide you as much notice as possible. It is critical that we have your contact information on file, including email addresses and cell / daytime phone numbers, so that we can contact you quickly in an emergency.
We may be forced to postpone your appointment at short notice on rare instances when a clinician is ill or there is an issue with our facilities. We make every effort to meet patients when facilities and clinical resources allow, but we will not schedule appointments if we are unable to maintain our normal high standards, and we ask for our patients’ patience in these situations.
Withdrawing From Treatment:
Fees for therapy given to date will be increased if you decide not to proceed at any point after treatment has begun. These fees will be deducted from any payments you make on your account. Please keep in mind that the costs you owe will be based on the actual treatment you received, not the timeliness suggested by your Treatment Estimate and/or Payment Schedule. If there are any funds left on your account, they will be returned to you. If money are owed to us, you will be expected to pay the balance when you get an invoice. Please keep in mind that after you’ve decided to go through with a treatment, you won’t be able to cancel it.
Visiting Us As A Referral Patient:
For particular diagnoses or treatments, many of our patients are formally referred to us by their regular dentist or another medical expert. Referrals for advanced diagnostic x-rays, endodontic therapy, or dental implants are often accepted, although this list is not complete. If you are referred to us, you will continue to be a patient of your normal dentist or medical care provider, but any treatment you get will be subject to our Terms of Business.
You will be expected to attend a New Patient Consultation if you have been recommended for treatment. You will not be needed to attend a New Patient Consultation if you have just been referred for diagnostic testing, but you will be asked to complete a medical history form. You are under no obligation to receive treatment from us, and we will treat you with the same amount of care and attention as our current patients.
You will be returned to your usual dentist or medical care provider after your treatment with us is completed. You may be invited to more visits with us to discuss the therapy we’ve provided, and we strongly advise you to do so. We will make every effort not to contact you for marketing purposes.
Your Medical History:
At different times, we will inquire about your medical history. This information is necessary to ensure that any therapy you get is administered safely and that we can adequately care for you in the event of an emergency. It is a legal obligation that we keep track of our medical history.
We will ask for your medical history at the following times:
– When you first register with the practise as a new patient
– When you are about to start a new course of treatment
– When you have your annual or regular review with your dentist or hygienist
– When you change clinicians, at the request of the new clinician
On each occasion, you should study the form and fill it out to the best of your ability. If you have any questions, see your clinician. We may also need extra information from you, such as medical records from your General Practitioner (GP), copies of prescriptions, and so on. We utilise a thorough and appropriate procedure to record your medical history, ensuring that the right information is maintained accurately and securely with the highest confidence and security. For additional information, see DATA PROTECTION. We regret that we will not be able to serve individuals who refuse to fill out a medical history form when asked.