This page explains what information we collect through this website and at the practice, why we collect it, how long we keep it, and the rights UK law gives you over it – in plain English, because small print shouldn’t need a lawyer.
The short version: we ask for the minimum, use it only to look after you, keep it only as long as the rules for health records require, and never sell it or share it for marketing. The longer version follows.
Pearl Lane Dental of 14 Pearl Lane, Richmond, London TW9 2QX is the data controller for the information described on this page. Questions, corrections and requests all reach the right person through hello@pearllanedental.co.uk, on 020 7946 0821, or simply at reception.
When you request an appointment we ask for your name, phone number and email address, along with a few optional details: whether you’re new to us, what you’d like to come in for, your preferred times and dentist, and anything you’d like us to know.
We use those details to reply to you and arrange your visit – that is the whole list. No marketing lists, no newsletters you didn’t ask for, and nothing sold or passed to anyone else. Our lawful basis is taking the steps you’ve asked us to take before entering our care (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(b)), together with our legitimate interest in answering the people who write to us.
Anything you tell us about your teeth, your health or your nerves – on the form, on the phone, or in the chair – is special category health data, and we treat it that way. We process it only so that we can provide you with dental care, under UK GDPR Article 9(2)(h), by professionals bound by clinical confidentiality through the General Dental Council. Ticking “I’m nervous” travels no further than your file and the people looking after you.
Appointment enquiries that don’t become appointments are deleted within 24 months. If you become a patient, your clinical records are kept for as long as health-record law and guidance require – in line with the NHS Records Management Code of Practice and our Care Quality Commission registration, that is normally 11 years for adults, or to age 25 for anyone we first treated as a child. When a record’s time is up, it is destroyed securely.
This site sets no cookies, runs no analytics, and stores nothing in your browser – no localStorage, no tracking pixels, no advertising tags. The only third-party requests your browser makes are for our typefaces, served by Google Fonts, which sees your IP address in the way any web request does. If you open WhatsApp from one of our links, WhatsApp’s own privacy policy applies from that point on.
UK GDPR gives you the right to:
Ask by email, phone, letter or in person. There’s no charge, no form to hunt for, and we reply within one calendar month.
Tell us first and we’ll put it right – we would always rather hear a concern than have you carry it home. You also have the right, at any time, to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
Last reviewed 2 August 2026. If we change how we handle your information, this page changes first.