We can help resolve private dental complaints
We can help resolve complaints about private dental services.
We will ask you to first contact your dental practice or the dental professional who provided your care to see if the issue can be resolved locally.
We cannot help with issues relating to NHS dental services (see below).
We support the local complaint handling because it:
- provides the quickest, and often the best, outcome for all involved
- ensures that matters do not escalate unnecessarily
- means that any changes can be adopted at the practice
- ensures learning can be shared with the dental team.
Time limits for raising complaints
We can help with private dental complaints that are:
- raised with us within 12 months of the treatment taking place, or
- within 12 months of you becoming aware there was an issue with your care.
These time limits apply to each individual treatment, not your entire treatment plan. For example, if you have undergone a series of treatments over time, the 12-month time period will start from the completion of each individual treatment, not from when your treatment first started.
If your complaint falls outside of these time limits, you should contact the dental professional who provided your care and set out your complaint. If you cannot resolve the issue, you may want to seek advice from Citizens Advice.
We can help you in the following ways
We will ask you how you would like your issues to be resolved. Please think about what kind of outcome you’re seeking before you get in touch. Remember that we can only help resolve issues about private dental services.
If you have a dental plan, we can only assist you with impartial complaints resolution if you are referred to us from your plan provider.
1. An explanation or apology
We can help if you’re looking for an explanation or apology for what has happened to you from your dentist or another member of the dental team. We will first advise you to write to the dental professional involved, setting out your request for an explanation or apology. We can explain how to do this and what to include.
We are an impartial and independent service, which means that we cannot compel dental professionals to respond in a particular way or to accept liability. Dental professionals do have a duty of candour, but are unlikely to admit liability if it may expose them to legal action e.g. a claim for compensation through the courts.
2. Full or partial refund of costs for failed treatment
We can support you if you’re looking for full or partial refund of dental costs associated with treatment that has failed. Failed treatment is work that has been completed, but requires remedial treatment to fix any issues.
Your course of treatment needs to be completed to be considered failed. Any damage caused is also not considered failed treatment, but we may be able to help resolve your complaint in another way.
3. Free remedial treatment
We can assist if you’re seeking free remedial treatment from your dental practice or dental professional, if you both agree. Free remedial treatment means that your dentist will redo your treatment at no further cost to resolve your issue.
4. A contribution towards remedial treatment
We may be able to help you with securing a contribution towards the costs of any remedial treatment being provided by another dentist or dental professional, if it is costing more than you originally paid.
You should seek a refund for failed initial treatment (see above).
Any contribution towards the cost of remedial treatment cannot exceed the cost of the initial treatment. Remedial treatment should be like-for-like, and you will need to fund a remedial treatment plan to confirm this.
Initial treatment costs = £100
Remedial treatment costs = £70
We can assist with £100 refund, but no contribution for the remedial treatment, as £100 covers the remedial treatment costs.
Initial treatment costs = £100
Remedial treatment costs = £150
We can assist with £100 refund, and a £50 contribution towards remedial treatment, as the remedial treatment costs exceeds the refund by that amount.
We are unable to help in some cases
We are unable to help you with the following:
- Complaints outside of our time limits (see above).
- Complaints about NHS dental services (or HSC in Northern Ireland).
- Complaints involving practice employees who are not registered dental professionals, such as practice managers and receptionists.
- Getting a copy of your dental records: ask your dental professional for records or contact the Information Commissioner’s Office if you have difficulties.
- Compensation for losses or damages (see below).
- Clinical advice (see below).
- Resolution has already been reached: if you’ve already accepted an offer in response to your complaint, please seek independent legal advice.
We cannot help with claims for compensation for loss of earnings, damages, pain, suffering etc., but we can help with refunds (see above). Compensation is the act of making up for a loss or damage that has been incurred and is a legal matter. A refund is the return a payment made for a product or service.
You will need to seek independent legal advice if you’ve been unable to resolve your complaint, and you want to seek compensation.
We are unable to provide you with clinical advice.
You may want to consider booking a consultation with a dental professional to understand what treatment is required to put things right.
Reporting public protection issues or concerns
If you have been harmed by a dental professional, or you think they might be posing a risk to you or others, you should report it to the General Dental Council (GDC). The GDC investigates serious concerns about the clinical practice, behaviour or health or registered dental professionals.
The GDC is the regulator of dental professionals. Dental professionals must be registered with the GDC to practise dentistry legally in the UK. If you think someone who is not registered with the GDC is practising dentistry (including tooth whitening and the fitting of dentures), or misusing a professional title, you should report it to the GDC. Find out more about illegal practice and how to report it.
The GDC will also investigate concerns raised about registered dental professionals that may affect patient safety or public confidence in the profession. These types of public protection issues or concerns include:
- serious or repeated mistakes in patient care or clinical treatment, including breaking patient confidentiality
- not responding to a patient’s needs, including not referring for further investigation when needed
- violence, sexual assault, misconduct, and discrimination (including when done online)
- criminal offences, including potential fraud or theft.
Complaints about how dental services operate
If your complaint is about how a dental practice is being run, such as the management or cleanliness of the practice, you may want to contact the health and care services regulator where you live: