Pre-Appointment Information
- Mon – Fri
- 08:30 am – 05:00 pm
- Sat – Sun
- Closed
Any issue or concerns, please call reception 01449 771 700.
All patients who take medication are kindly asked to bring a list to the practice for their treating clinician (dentist, dental therapist, or dental hygienist) to review on their medical history.
Before visiting the practice our customers can log on to our Dentally patient portal. NHS and private customers can check dates & times of booked appointments, update their medical history and contact details, view and approve consent forms (including the NHS FP17), and review treatment estimates. Private customers can make appointmet bookings too. Sorry, any patient who needs to change or cancel an appointment must ring the reception team.
Our new practice software deals with each person individually. Whether it be to book an appointment or remind you of an appointment. This means for family bookings, every patient will receive their own communications notifications. Until Dentally recognises 'a family' this will mean some persons (who share contact details with other members of their family) will receive multiple messages - sorry. It also means that care should be taken to review the contact details of all children (not just the adults who care for them).
Our general enquiries email is not for booking, changing and cancelling appointments.
You can only change or cancel an appointment by directly contacting the receptin team on 01449 771 700.
How to book an appointment
Book your appointments by speaking to our reception team after your routine check-up, or call reception during opening hours to arrange or make changes to existing appointments. Routine dental check-up appointments and hygienist appointments can be booked from 8:30am (9:00am Foundation Dentists and Vineela). Dentist/therapist follow-up treatments are typically not booked in the first appointment slot to allow nursing staff time to prepare the rooms for treatment.
Private patients also have the option to use the online appointment booking system. Booking appointments online requires a 50% deposit and a £1.50 booking-fee.
Failure to rebook within 2 years or failure to attend a booked appointment may result in your removal from our NHS patient list or a charge if you are a private patient.
If you cannot climb stairs or have a medical condition, please be sure to mention any necessary details to the reception team so that we can best meet your treatment needs. Other safeguarding measures are in place to protect our patients and staff.
See our page on WHDP's safeguarding practises.
If you are booking or changing an appointment on behalf of someone else, please note that our reception team will check that you have their consent to do so.
First-time customers, don't forget to bring your Direct Access consent form for private hygiene appointments if you only come to see the dental hygienist or dental therapist. (In time, this form will be available on the Dentally Patient Portal too.)
Appointment reminders
When making your appointment booking at the reception desk, will should always offer you a printed appointment card.
We use a digital communications to remind patients of their booked appointment. You will receive an email 4 weeks and 1 week prior to the appointment, followed by another email 2 days before the appointment. Patients without email, will only receive an SMS text 2 days before the appointment. In addition, as mentioned earlier, patients can check themself their appointments and review their details using the Dentally Patient Portal anytime.
SMS messages are a courtesy service to give basic appointment information; email messages provide additional information. The message layout can cause confusion if a patient has booked multiple appointments on the same day. Please attend all the appointments listed, as it is your responsibility to attend your dental or hygiene appointment.
If you have not provided or give inaccurate contact details or they change (i.e. email or mobile number) reception and our dental software may be unable to communicate with you. To avoid missing your appointment, please provide us with your up to date contact details here or do it yourself on the Dentally patient portal or call reception who will do their best to assist you.
If your smart device (phone, tablet, computer) includes a calendar, sometimes when customers travel abroad their electronic time zone is wrong, leading to incorrect appointment reminders. It is the responsibility of the customer to check their devices are using the correct time and date.
Failure to rebook within 2 years or failure to attend a booked appointment may result in your removal from our NHS patient list or a charge if a private patient.
Unaccompanied children
We may not be able to treat an unaccompanied child (under 16 years old) unless we have consent from the parent or legal guardian. Please complete the consent form below prior to the child attending their appointment and ensure it is given to the dental reception team before the appointment. At latest, when the child arrives at the dentist for the appointment.
FORM: Consent from the parent or legal guardian to treat an unaccompanied child under 16 years old.
If you are unwell
We kindly ask you to respect the health of other patients and our staff. If you are unwell, please call reception to postpone your appointment (giving at least 24 working hours’ notice when possible).
Adults who do not inform the reception team of their absence before a scheduled appointment will be marked as a “failure to attend”. Children will be recorded as “was not brought” and your child's absence will be checked against our Safeguarding policy.
Covid-19 and MMR prevention measures
During times of high sickness in the community (COVID, flu, measles, etc) please do not attend the practice in person unless you have an appointment, or you are accompanying a person who requires assistance, or you are attending with a person who requires your consent.
We kindly ask you to contact the reception team immediately and not to visit the practice should you or a member of your household have or show symptoms of COVID19, or have cough, cold or flu symptoms. When you contact us prior to your appointment we will be happy to postpone your appointment to a later date, but if you have already missed your appointment (or if you knew you were unwell more than 24 hours previously) we will consider this as a “failure to attend”.
When attending the dental practice, we recommend you:
- Wash your hands upon entering and
- Socially distance as much as possible.
Face coverings are no longer a requirement but we do provide masks free-of-charge should you feel more comfortable wearing one. Restrictions on free movement in the practice are concerned with keeping you safe, keeping practice staff safe, and minimising the risk of you acquiring or transmitting COVID-19, as well as Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR).
What happens if you miss an appointment?
We ask you to give us at least 24 working hours’ notice when possible to warn us of your absence.
A Failure to Attend (FTA), or a failure to warn us that you could not attend, will appear on your file if you miss an appointment. This could result in your eventual removal from our NHS list. Private patients missing an appointment could be issued with a charge.
If you miss an NHS appointment, we will rebook it for you and there will be no charge. However, if you fail to attend another appointment, you will automatically be removed from our NHS list and may only be able to attend as an independent patient subject to dentist availability.
Private appointments can require a financial deposit whether booked online or via by the reception team. Should you fail to attend your private hyiene, private dental checkup, private dental treatment (with dentist, therapist or hygienist), or cancel within 24 working hours of the appointment, you will be charged a fee (see private price guide).
Exemptions and Universal Credit
If you are an NHS patient with a registered exemption, please bring your certificate for inspection at the dental practice.
See our fees page for more information about exemptions.
See also our Practice Information Leaflet below (to be updated for Dentally)
Adobe Acrobat document [376 KB]
See our Terms & Conditions
Revised 22/10/2025, Adobe Acrobat document [95 KB]. Document is a simplified, "plain English", version of that previously used (no significant change).