Cookie Policy

Cookies aren’t just delicious snacks – they’re also little files that websites use to work properly. This page explains what cookies are, which ones we use, and how you can control them.

What Are Cookies Anyway?

Cookies are tiny text files that websites save on your device (phone, tablet, or computer) when you visit them. They’re completely harmless – they can’t run programs, they can’t look at your files, and they definitely can’t give your device a virus.

Think of cookies like a name tag at a conference. When you show up, you get a sticker with your name on it. People can remember who you are without asking every five minutes. Cookies do the same thing for websites – they help the site remember things about your visit.

Cookies might remember stuff like:

– That you’ve already agreed to our cookie policy (so we don’t bug you about it again)
– What search term you just used (so you don’t have to type it again)
– That you prefer viewing the site in dark mode (if we had that feature)

They’re actually really useful for making websites work smoothly.

Types of Cookies We Use

Not all cookies are the same. Here are the different types and what they do:

Essential Cookies (The Necessary Ones)

These cookies are absolutely necessary for the website to function properly. Without them, things would break.

What they do: Remember your cookie preferences, keep you logged in (if we have accounts in future), maintain security, and basically make the site work.

Can you turn them off? Technically yes through your browser settings, but then parts of the site won’t work. It’d be like trying to drive a car without petrol – theoretically possible but not very practical.

Do we need your permission? No – these are exempt from cookie consent requirements because they’re necessary for the site to function.

Analytics Cookies (The Counters)

These help us understand how people use our website. They answer questions like “which pages do people visit most?” and “are people mostly using phones or computers?”

What they do: Count visitors, track which pages are popular, see how long people spend on the site, understand where visitors come from (like Google or social media).

What they don’t do: Identify you personally. We don’t know your name, your email, or where you live. We just see anonymous data like “someone from Manchester visited the London page.”

Can you turn them off? Yes! You can decline analytics cookies when you first visit our site, or change your mind later in your browser settings.

Who uses them? We use Google Analytics for this. Google has its own privacy policy about how they handle analytics data.

Preference Cookies (The Memory Keepers)

These remember choices you make so you don’t have to keep making them every time you visit.

What they might remember: Your preferred search settings, whether you’ve dismissed certain notices, how you like information displayed.

Can you turn them off? Yes, but then we won’t remember your preferences and you’ll have to set things up each time you visit.

What We Don’t Use

Let’s be clear about cookies we’re NOT using:

Advertising cookies: We don’t show targeted ads based on your browsing history. We’re not tracking you around the internet to sell you stuff.

Social media cookies: We don’t have Facebook pixels or Twitter tracking or any of that. What you do on social media is your business.

Third-party tracking cookies: We’re not letting random companies track you through our site. The only third party that might set cookies is Google Analytics, and only if you agree to analytics cookies.

Cookies We Actually Use

Here’s the specific list of cookies you might encounter on DentalGateways:

Cookie Name	Purpose	Duration
cookie_consent	Remembers that you’ve accepted our cookie policy	1 year
_ga	Google Analytics – distinguishes users	2 years
_gid	Google Analytics – distinguishes users	24 hours
_gat	Google Analytics – throttles request rate	1 minute

That’s it. We keep it simple. Four cookies maximum, and one of those only lasts a minute.

How Long Do Cookies Last?

Some cookies disappear when you close your browser. These are called “session cookies.” Others stick around for a while – these are “persistent cookies.”

Our cookie consent cookie lasts a year because we don’t want to ask you about cookies every single day. That would be annoying.

Google Analytics cookies can last up to 2 years, though the one that actually identifies unique visitors (_gid) only lasts 24 hours. After that, it’s basically counting you as a new visitor.

You can delete cookies anytime through your browser settings. When you do that, it’s like hitting the reset button – the site won’t remember anything about your previous visits.

Third-Party Cookies

Third-party cookies are set by someone other than the website you’re visiting. In our case, the only third-party cookies come from Google Analytics, and only if you agreed to analytics cookies.

Google uses these cookies to compile statistics about website traffic. They see the same anonymous data we see – which pages were visited, roughly where visitors are from, what device they’re using.

If you want to know more about how Google handles this data, check out Google’s Privacy Policy. You can also opt out of Google Analytics tracking across all websites using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

How to Control Cookies

You’ve got several options for managing cookies:

Option 1: Use Our Cookie Banner

When you first visit DentalGateways, you’ll see a banner asking about cookies. You can accept all cookies or decline the optional ones (like analytics). Your choice is saved and we won’t ask again unless you clear your cookies.

Want to change your mind later? Clear your browser cookies for our site and you’ll see the banner again next time you visit.

Option 2: Browser Settings

Every browser has settings to control cookies. You can:

– Block all cookies (though this might break websites)
– Block third-party cookies only
– Delete cookies after each browsing session
– See which cookies are stored and delete specific ones

How to access cookie settings:

Chrome: Settings → Privacy and security → Cookies and other site data

Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data

Safari: Preferences → Privacy → Cookies and website data

Edge: Settings → Privacy, search, and services → Cookies and site permissions

The exact location might vary depending on your browser version, but it’s usually under Privacy or Settings.

Option 3: Private/Incognito Mode

If you browse in private or incognito mode, cookies are automatically deleted when you close the browser window. This means we won’t remember anything about your visit next time you come back.

Private browsing is great if you’re using someone else’s device or just want to browse without leaving traces.

What Happens If You Block Cookies?

Honest answer: the site will mostly still work, but some things might not function as smoothly.

If you block essential cookies, you might have issues with basic site functionality. We don’t use many essential cookies, but the ones we do use are there for good reasons.

If you block analytics cookies, nothing changes for you – the site works exactly the same. We just won’t know you visited, which means we have less data to improve the site with. But that’s your choice to make.

If you block all cookies, you’ll probably see our cookie banner every time you visit because we can’t remember that you’ve already responded to it.

Cookies on Mobile Devices

Cookies work the same way on phones and tablets as they do on computers. The same types of cookies, the same purposes, the same controls.

To manage cookies on mobile:

iPhone/iPad Safari: Settings app → Safari → Advanced → Website Data

Android Chrome: Chrome app → Settings → Privacy and security → Clear browsing data

Android Firefox: Firefox app → Settings → Privacy and security → Cookies

Changes to This Cookie Policy

If we start using different cookies or change how we use them, we’ll update this page. We’ll also change the “Last Updated” date at the top.

Significant changes will be announced on our homepage. Small updates (like fixing typos) might happen without announcement.

We’re not planning to suddenly start using loads of tracking cookies or anything like that. Our approach is to use as few cookies as necessary to run a good service.

Questions About Cookies?

If there’s anything about cookies that we haven’t explained clearly, or if you’ve got specific questions about our cookie usage, just ask us.

We’re not trying to be sneaky about cookies. We’re using them to make the site work better and understand how people use it. That’s it.

Related Information

For more information about how we handle your data overall, check out our Privacy Policy.

If you’ve got questions about using the site in general, our Terms & Conditions might help.

Want to know more about DentalGateways? Visit our About Us page.

Still Have Cookie Questions?
Email: hello@dentalgateways.co.uk
We’ll explain anything you’re unsure about.