Patient Policy

Appointment Reminders

An automatic appointment confirmation email is sent to each patient when their appointment is booked. Please ensure you provide us with the correct email address to make sure you receive these. The team also endeavour to call each patient the day before their booked appointment to confirm your attendance, we may also leave you voicemails, or send you a text or an email, should we be unable to contact you. All reminders sent, voicemails left, and calls made are logged on our system. Despite this, you should not rely on our messages or calls solely to remind you of your appointment with us as these are a courtesy. We will not be responsible for any appointment missed as a result of non-delivery of email/text/voicemail reminders, regardless of the reasons for its failure. It is your responsibility to ensure we have your correct contact details to enable us to contact you.

You can contact us via phone 01424 428136 during opening hours, leave a voicemail when we are closed, or send us an email ag-smiles@soegateway.com or a.g.smilesltd@gmail.com

Deposits

We make appointments with the expectation that you will attend at the agreed date/time and undergo your planned treatment. If you change your mind, or something prevents you from being able to attend, please contact us within a minimum of at least 24 or 48 hours in advance to reschedule or cancel. When we book your appointment, we will ask for a 50% deposit from you as confirmation of your commitment to attend. Deposits are normally fully refundable providing the appropriate 24 hours. Without the deposit the appointment will not be booked.

Late Attendance

We book specific time slots for each appointment, to allow enough time for your clinician to carry out your treatment to the highest possible standard. If you are going to be late for your appointment, we again ask that you contact us as soon as possible. We will need to confirm with your clinician if they are still able to carry out your appointment if you are late. If they are unable to do so in the remaining time, a late notice cancellation fee will be applied (this will be your deposit). If they are able to see you, you may need to rebook to finish any remaining treatment.

Medical Details

The dentists follow good practice guidelines. One of our protocols for safe dental care is that we require patients to tell their dentist about their medical history including any changes, we update this six monthly on the clinipad at reception. It may help to bring a current repeat prescription form with you, as we will ask you about the exact names of medications you are currently taking if any. The dentist will expect you to complete a confidential medical history form, and answer a lifestyle questionnaire to determine risks to health and can offer advice.

Your Feedback and Complaints

At AG Smiles we take patient concerns and complaints very seriously, we aim to ensure that all patients are happy with their experience and service. When patients complain, they are dealt with courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible. Patients with concerns or complaints are encouraged to firstly speak to the Practice Manager, or if they are not available then the Principal dentist. It may be that you want to submit a written complaint, in which case please write to our Practice Manager at the Practice address.

Full details on how to complain are published on our Complaints page.

We do not tolerate abuse to any team member

• Please note we reserve the right to refuse dental treatment.
• We do not tolerate verbal or physical abuse at any level.
• Patients who are violent or abusive to practice staff, to other patients or anyone else on the practice premises will be refused treatment, and reported to the appropriate authorities including the police.