Terms & Conditions

1. About these terms

These terms and conditions govern your use of the Emergency Dental Search website and the appointment booking service available through it. Please read them carefully before you search for or book an appointment.

By using the website or booking an appointment you agree to these terms. If you do not agree with any part of them, please do not use the service.

2. Who we are

Emergency Dental Search is an online booking service that connects patients with independent dental practices across the UK. We are not a dental practice, and we do not provide dental advice, diagnosis or treatment.

You can contact us about anything in these terms by emailing info@emergencydentalsearch.co.uk or by using the contact form on this website.

3. Our role, and the role of the practice

• The practices listed on our website are independent businesses. Each practice is responsible for the clinical care, advice, treatment and prices it provides.
• Before a practice can offer appointment slots through us, we review and approve its registration, including the name and GDC number of its principal dentist.
• When you book, your appointment is with the practice you chose. The contract for any dental treatment is between you and that practice, not with us.
• Any treatment recommended after your appointment, such as a filling, extraction or root canal, is agreed and paid for directly with the practice.

4. Booking an appointment

You can search for practices with availability, choose a slot and pay the booking fee without creating an account. To secure an appointment you need to give us your name, email address and telephone number, tell us whether the patient is an adult or a child, and accept these terms.

Your appointment is confirmed once your payment is accepted and we send you a confirmation email with the practice details and appointment time.

5. The booking fee

The booking fee is £40 per appointment, payable by card at the time of booking. It covers the emergency consultation, the dental assessment and the diagnostic X-rays needed to identify the problem at the practice you book with.

The fee does not include treatment. Any treatment costs are payable directly to the practice.

6. Payment

Card payments are processed securely by Stripe. We do not see or store your full card details.

All amounts are charged in pounds sterling (GBP).

7. Changing or cancelling your appointment

If you need to change or cancel, contact us as soon as you can and we will amend or cancel the booking with the practice for you.

Where you cancel with reasonable notice before the appointment, we will refund the booking fee to the card you paid with. If the practice cancels your appointment, or you attend and are not seen, the booking fee is refunded in full.

If you do not attend and did not tell us in advance, we may not be able to refund the booking fee.

8. Requests sent to practices

If no appointment is shown for your area, you can ask us to pass a request to nearby practices including the date and time you would prefer. Your details are shared with those practices so they can contact you directly.

No booking fee is taken for a request, and any appointment arranged as a result is between you and the practice.

9. Your responsibilities

• Give us accurate and up to date information, and tell the practice about anything relevant to your dental problem, including medication and medical conditions.
• Book only for yourself, or for someone you are authorised to book for, such as your child.
• Attend your appointment on time, or tell us as soon as you know you cannot.
• Do not misuse the service, for example by making bookings you do not intend to keep, or by copying, scraping or reselling information from the website.

10. Urgent medical situations

This service is for dental emergencies and is not a substitute for emergency medical care. If you have severe swelling that affects your breathing or swallowing, uncontrolled bleeding, or a facial injury, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. The service is not intended for routine dental check-ups.

11. Availability and accuracy

Appointment slots are supplied by practices and can change. We do not guarantee that a practice will always have availability, and a booking is only confirmed once your payment is accepted and the confirmation email has been sent.

We take care to keep practice information accurate, but we cannot guarantee that every detail is free from error.

12. Our liability

Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law. Your statutory rights are not affected.

Clinical care, diagnosis, treatment and advice are the responsibility of the practice. We are not liable for the treatment you receive or for any loss caused by a practice's acts or omissions.

Subject to the first paragraph above, our total liability to you in connection with a booking is limited to the booking fee you paid. We are not responsible for failures or delays caused by events outside our reasonable control.

13. Complaints

If you are unhappy with our website, our booking process or a refund, please contact us at info@emergencydentalsearch.co.uk and we will do our best to put things right.

If your complaint is about the dental care or treatment you received, please raise it with the practice in the first instance, as the practice is responsible for its own clinical services. Private dental patients in the UK can also contact the Dental Complaints Service.

14. For dental practices

• Practices must keep their practice details, contact information and availability accurate and up to date, and must honour appointments booked through the service.
• We may suspend or remove a listing if a practice does not keep to these terms or the standards we require, if its registration status changes, or if we believe patients are being misled.
• Commercial terms, including any fees payable by a practice, are set out in the agreement with that practice.

15. Intellectual property

The website, including its text, design, images and logos, belongs to us or is used with permission. You may use the website for your own personal, non-commercial purposes. You may not copy, distribute or use our content commercially without our written permission.

16. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time, for example if the law or our service changes. The version published on this page applies from the date shown at the top. Continuing to use the service after a change means you accept the updated terms.

17. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute, except that consumers may bring proceedings in their local courts where they are entitled to do so.