Home › Dental, physio and aesthetics clinics
Glossary
Glossary for dental, physio and aesthetics clinics: 14 terms in plain English
Each definition is taken from one of our guides, which gives the rule in full and where it comes from. The terms are in alphabetical order.
Annual retention fee (GDC)
The yearly fee each registrant pays the General Dental Council: £698 for a dentist and £108 for a dental care professional. A single-location practice with three chairs also pays the CQC £846 a year, and the ICO data protection fee is £52 or £78.
Source: GDC, CQC and ICO fee pages, read 1 October 2026
Article 9 condition
The second lawful footing health data needs, on top of an Article 6 basis. For a dental practice it is normally the provision of health care, which is Article 9(2)(h). A practice that can name only one of the two has not finished the job.
Source: UK GDPR, Articles 6 and 9
Complaint acknowledgement
The practice's first reply to a complaint. The NHS regulations fix it at three working days. The GDC sets no deadline for the full response; it holds the practice to the time limits in its own procedure, which must be given to the patient with the acknowledgement.
Source: NHS complaints regulations; GDC Standards for the Dental Team
Data protection impact assessment (DPIA)
A written assessment of the risks of a new use of personal data. The ICO's triggers include both innovative technology and special category data, so an AI tool that reads patient records needs a DPIA before the first record is processed.
Source: ICO guidance on data protection impact assessments
Deletion request
A patient's request to have their record erased. It must be answered within one month. The practice can refuse to delete a record it is still required to keep, but it has to reply and say why.
Source: UK GDPR, Article 17; ICO guidance on the right to erasure
Failed to attend (FTA)
An appointment the patient misses without cancelling. A practice with 220 appointments a week at a 4.3% FTA rate, 40% of them NHS, re-filling a fifth of missed slots, loses about £25,000 a year in chair time.
Source: Our own arithmetic, in tests/chairside/tools-check.txt
Fixed credit (£15)
The credit NHS England applies for each urgent course of treatment in a contract's required number, alongside a £60 activity credit when the course is delivered. NHS England's guidance says the fixed credits are not subject to financial recovery.
Source: NHS England, NHS dentistry quality and payment reforms: contractual guidance (updated 29 July 2026)
GDS contract notice
The written notice by which a dental contractor in England ends its NHS contract. The contract ends three months after the notice is served, moved to the last calendar day of that month, so notice served on 12 October 2026 ends the contract on 31 January 2027.
Source: National Health Service (General Dental Services Contracts) Regulations 2005
Missed appointment charge
A fee for failing to attend. An NHS dental practice in England may not charge one; the April 2006 contract removed it. A private practice can, if the patient agreed it before booking, the amount reflects what the empty slot costs and it is not charged when the slot is re-filled.
Source: NHS dental contract regulations; CMA unfair contract terms guidance
Prescription-only medicine advertising ban
Botulinum toxin is a prescription-only medicine, so it cannot be advertised to the public: no product name, no #botox hashtag, no "wrinkle relaxing injections", no before-and-after photos and no offers. A clinic may advertise a consultation for lines and wrinkles.
Source: CAP Code, rule 12.12; Human Medicines Regulations 2012, regulation 284
Recall interval
The time between a patient's examinations, set by the clinician on the patient's risk of oral disease and reviewed at each visit. NICE's guideline gives a range: three to twelve months for patients under 18 and three to twenty-four months for adults.
Source: NICE guideline on dental recall
Retention period (dental records)
How long a practice keeps a patient's records. NHS dental practices in England keep clinical care records for 11 years and finance records for two, on the NHS Business Services Authority's published answer; the contract regulations require only two years from the end of a course of treatment.
Source: NHS Business Services Authority published answer; GDS Contracts Regulations 2005
Surgery hour cost
A practice's yearly running costs divided by the hours its surgeries are open. Three surgeries open 37.5 hours a week for 48 weeks give 5,400 hours; at £310,000 of costs each hour costs £57.41. With 80% booked and the clinician keeping 45% of the fee, a booked hour must bring in £130.47.
Source: Our own arithmetic, in tests/chairside/tools-check.txt
Unscheduled care requirement
From 1 April 2026, the number of urgent courses of treatment an NHS dental contract in England of 100 UDAs or more must deliver: 11 for every £10,000 of relevant contract value, rounded up. A £180,000 contract owes 198 a year, about four a week over 48 weeks.
Source: NHS England, NHS dentistry quality and payment reforms: contractual guidance (updated 29 July 2026)
AEO Lookup editorial team
We write practical guides for people who run small UK firms, and we check every fact against its source on the date shown. Read how we review, or tell us if something has changed.