Terms & Conditions

These are the terms and conditions for using DentalGateways. We’ve tried to write them in normal English rather than complicated legal speak. Basically, we’ll explain what you can expect from us, and what we expect from you.

Agreement to Terms

By using DentalGateways.co.uk (that’s this website), you’re agreeing to these terms and conditions. If you don’t agree with them, you shouldn’t use the site. It’s that simple.

We might update these terms from time to time. When we do, we’ll change the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. If it’s a big change, we’ll probably put a notice on the homepage too. Keep checking back occasionally, yeah?

What DentalGateways Is (And Isn’t)

Let’s be clear about what we do:

We are: A directory website that provides information about dental services across the UK. Think of us like a phonebook, but specifically for dentists and actually useful.

We are not: A medical service, a booking platform, a review site, or qualified to give you dental advice. We’re just providing information to help you find dental services in your area.

Here’s what that means in practice:

We compile and organize information about dental practices, emergency services, NHS availability, and related stuff. We try our best to keep this information accurate and up-to-date, but we can’t guarantee it’s always 100% perfect.

We don’t make appointments for you. We don’t rate or endorse specific dentists. We don’t diagnose dental problems or recommend treatments. For all that stuff, you need to speak to actual qualified dental professionals.

Using Our Website

You can use DentalGateways to browse dental information, search for services in your area, and read our guides and resources. It’s free for everyone.

When using our site, you agree to:

Be Honest: If you contact us or submit information, tell us the truth. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not.

Be Legal: Don’t use our site for anything illegal or dodgy. This should go without saying, but here we are saying it anyway.

Be Respectful: Don’t hack our site, don’t try to break it, don’t flood it with spam, and don’t use it to harass people.

Be Responsible: You’re responsible for how you use the information you find here. Make your own informed decisions.

What You Can’t Do

Here are some specific things that are not allowed:

Don’t scrape our content with bots or automated tools to copy our entire directory. If you want data for legitimate research or business purposes, contact us and let’s talk about it properly.

Don’t copy our website design, content, or structure to create a competing dental directory. We worked hard on this, and wholesale copying isn’t cool.

Don’t use our site to distribute malware, viruses, or anything else malicious.

Don’t impersonate DentalGateways staff or claim to officially represent us when you don’t.

Don’t post fake information about dental practices, whether to make them look good or bad. If you’ve got concerns about incorrect information, contact us properly.

Accuracy of Information

Here’s the honest truth: we do our best to keep all information accurate and current, but mistakes happen and things change.

Dental practices close down, move location, change phone numbers, stop taking NHS patients – stuff happens. We update our directory regularly, but there might be a lag between when something changes in real life and when we update our website.

That’s why we always recommend calling ahead before visiting a dental practice. The phone number might be wrong, or they might be fully booked, or they might have changed their opening hours. Always verify important details directly with the practice.

If you spot something that’s wrong or out of date, please let us know. We rely on users like you to help keep our information accurate.

No Medical Advice

This is important, so we’re giving it its own section:

DentalGateways does not provide medical or dental advice.

We provide information about where to find dental services. That’s different from telling you what treatment you need or diagnosing your dental problems.

If you’ve got tooth pain, swelling, bleeding, or any dental emergency – call NHS 111, contact a dentist directly, or go to A&E if it’s serious. Don’t rely on information from our website to make medical decisions.

Any health information on our site is general educational content only. It’s not personalized medical advice for your specific situation.

Third-Party Links

Our directory includes links to dental practice websites and other external sites. When you click those links, you’re leaving DentalGateways and going to someone else’s website.

We don’t control those other websites. We’re not responsible for their content, privacy policies, or practices. If you have issues with a dental practice’s website, you need to take that up with them.

Including a link doesn’t mean we endorse that dental practice or guarantee anything about their services. We’re just providing information about what’s available.

Intellectual Property

The content on DentalGateways – the design, the text we’ve written, the way we’ve organized information, our logo, graphics, and so on – belongs to us or our licensors.

You can read our content and use it for personal purposes (like finding a dentist for yourself). What you can’t do is copy our entire database, republish our content on your own site, or use our stuff for commercial purposes without permission.

Want to quote a paragraph from our site in a blog post or article? That’s usually fine – just link back to us as the source. Want to copy entire pages or our whole directory structure? Not okay – contact us first.

Dental practice information (names, addresses, phone numbers) is factual data that exists in the public domain. We don’t claim ownership of facts. But the way we’ve compiled, organized, and presented that information is our work.

User Content

If you send us messages, suggestions, feedback, or any other content, you’re giving us permission to use that content to improve our service.

For example, if you email us saying “it would be really helpful if you added a feature to compare opening hours,” we might use that idea. You’re not going to sue us for implementing your suggestion, right? Good.

We won’t publish your private messages without permission. Your email to us saying “I can’t find a dentist in my area” won’t suddenly appear on our blog. But general feedback and suggestions become ours to use.

Disclaimer of Warranties

Here comes the legal bit. We’re required to say this:

DentalGateways is provided “as is” and “as available.” We don’t make any warranties about the website always being available, always being error-free, or always having perfectly accurate information.

We don’t warrant that the site will meet all your specific needs, that it’ll work flawlessly on every device, or that it’ll never have downtime.

We try really hard to run a good service, but websites sometimes have technical problems. Servers crash. Bugs happen. The internet is imperfect. We’ll fix issues as quickly as we can, but we can’t guarantee perfection.

Limitation of Liability

This is the part where we explain that we’re not liable for everything under the sun:

We’re not responsible if you call a dental practice and they’ve moved location (even though our site said they were there). We’re not responsible if you go to a dentist you found through our site and you’re unhappy with their service. We’re not responsible if you miss an emergency because you were browsing our directory instead of calling NHS 111.

We provide information. What you do with that information is your choice and your responsibility.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, DentalGateways won’t be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from your use of the site.

If, despite everything we’ve said, a court decides we are liable for something, our liability is limited to £100. That’s probably less than a dental checkup costs these days.

Some jurisdictions don’t allow these kinds of limitations, so parts of this section might not apply to you. But we’re covering our bases here.

Indemnification

If you do something silly with our site (like posting defamatory content about a dental practice, or using our site to run a scam), and someone sues us because of what you did, you agree to cover our legal costs and any damages.

Basically, don’t do things that get us sued. Use the site properly and we’re all good.

For Dental Practices

If you’re a dental practice and your information appears on our site:

We compile information from publicly available sources. If your details are wrong, please contact us and we’ll update them free of charge.

If you want your practice removed from our directory, let us know. We’ll take it down, though we’d rather work with you to make sure your information is accurate.

In the future, we may offer enhanced listing options for practices. These will be clearly marked and will be separate from our standard directory listings. We’ll always be transparent about what’s a paid listing and what’s not.

Termination

We reserve the right to terminate or suspend access to our site for anyone who violates these terms. This probably won’t happen because most people are decent, but if someone’s seriously abusing the site, we can shut them out.

You can also stop using our site anytime you want. No account to cancel, no strings attached. Just close the browser tab and you’re done.

Changes to These Terms

We might need to update these terms occasionally. Maybe we’ll add new features that need new rules. Maybe laws will change. Maybe we’ll just realize we forgot to mention something important.

When we update these terms, we’ll change the date at the top of this page. For significant changes, we’ll put a notice on our homepage.

If you keep using the site after we’ve updated the terms, that means you accept the new terms. If you don’t like the new terms, stop using the site.

Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. If there’s ever a legal dispute (and we really hope there won’t be), it’ll be handled in the courts of England and Wales.

If you’re in Scotland or Northern Ireland, consumer protection laws in your jurisdiction will still apply where relevant.

Severability

If any part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable or invalid, that specific part can be ignored, but the rest of the terms still apply.

For example, if a court says “you can’t limit liability like that,” then that limitation might be struck down, but all the other terms would still be in effect.

Entire Agreement

These terms, along with our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, make up the entire agreement between you and DentalGateways.

Any previous versions of terms or any verbal promises someone might have made don’t count – what’s written here is what matters.

Contact and Questions

Got questions about these terms? Not sure if something you want to do is allowed? Just ask us. We’re happy to clarify.

We’d rather you contact us with questions than either:

a) Do something you shouldn’t and cause problems, or
b) Not do something that’s actually fine because you were worried about the terms

Seriously, if you’re unsure, just email us. We’re friendly and we’ll give you a straight answer.

Fair Use and Common Sense

Look, we’re not trying to be difficult with all these terms and conditions. We just need to protect ourselves from the small number of people who might try to abuse the site, steal our content, or sue us for ridiculous things.

For the vast majority of users – people just trying to find a dentist in their area – none of this really matters. Browse the site, find dental services, make informed decisions about your dental care. That’s what we’re here for.

If you’re ever unsure whether something you want to do is okay, the answer is probably “yes, that’s fine” as long as it’s reasonable and legal. But if you’re really worried, just ask us.

Questions About These Terms?
Email: hello@dentalgateways.co.uk
We’re humans, not lawyers, and we’ll explain things in plain English.