Complaints procedure

Tell us first, and tell us quickly

Most things that go wrong are fixable, and fixable sooner rather than later. If you are unhappy with anything — the treatment, the cost, how you were spoken to — ring the practice on 028 9649 6180 and ask for the practice manager, or write to care@ardanimplants.co.uk. You do not need to put it formally to be taken seriously.

The stages

1. Acknowledgement within three working days. You will be told who is looking into it and roughly how long it will take.
2. Investigation, normally within ten working days. That will usually include reviewing your records and speaking to the clinicians involved. If it will take longer — for instance if someone is on leave — you will be told why and given a date.
3. A written response. What we found, what we think happened, and what we propose to do about it. If we got something wrong we will say so.
4. A meeting, if you want one. You are welcome to bring somebody with you.
5. If you are still not satisfied, we will tell you where to take it next.

Taking it further

For private dental treatment in Northern Ireland, complaints can be taken to the Dental Complaints Service. Concerns about a dentist’s fitness to practise go to the General Dental Council (GDC). Concerns about the practice itself go to the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), which registers and inspects private dental practices here.

Regulator names and routes are placeholders on this concept site and would need to be verified and kept current on a live one.

If something goes wrong after surgery

This is different from a complaint and it is handled differently. Ring the practice on 028 9649 6180. During opening hours you will get a person; outside them the message gives the on-call number. Pain that worsens after day three, swelling that increases after day four, a bad taste with discharge, a temperature, or numbness of the lip persisting the following morning are all reasons to ring rather than wait.

We will see you the same day where there is any question of infection or nerve involvement. There is no charge for reviewing a complication of treatment we carried out.

The guarantee

Five years on the implant and two years on the crown or bridge, conditional on attending the review and maintenance appointments in your plan. Within that period a failed implant is removed, the site grafted and the implant replaced at no charge.

It does not cover accidental damage, work altered by another dentist, or failure where treatment advice was not followed — most commonly continuing to smoke through the healing period. Where we consider a claim falls outside the guarantee we will say so in writing with our reasons, and that decision can be taken through this complaints procedure.

The commercial terms sit on the terms page, and the price of treatment on the costs page.