These Terms govern your use of the So Dental mobile application and any related services (the "Service") provided by So Dental Ltd ("So Dental", "we", "us", "our"). By creating an account or using the Service you agree to these Terms.
Please read them carefully. They include important obligations about patient data, professional conduct, and the limits of our liability.
1. Who can use the Service
You may only register and use the Service if:
- You are at least 18 years old.
- You are a UK General Dental Council ("GDC")-registered dentist OR the authorised representative of a UK dental practice.
- You can provide accurate information to verify your status.
- You are not impersonating another person or organisation.
- You have not previously been removed from the Service.
We may refuse, suspend, or terminate any account that we believe does not meet these requirements, with or without notice.
2. Account registration and verification
2.1 Account creation
To create an account you must provide your name, email, password, and GDC number (or practice details). All information must be accurate and kept up to date.
2.2 GDC verification
You authorise us to check your GDC number against the public GDC register to confirm that you are a registered dentist. You may not post, message other members, or apply for jobs until verification is complete.
You may not bypass, attempt to bypass, or assist anyone else in bypassing the verification process. Doing so will result in immediate account termination.
2.3 Practice accounts
A practice account is created on behalf of a registered UK dental practice. By creating a practice account you confirm that you are authorised by the practice to act on its behalf. We may verify this by contacting the practice directly.
2.4 Your account is yours
You are responsible for keeping your login credentials secure and for any activity that happens on your account. Tell us immediately at security@sodentalnetwork.com if you suspect unauthorised access.
You may not share your account, sell it, lend it, or let anyone else use it.
3. Patient data — the rule that matters most
So Dental is not a patient-facing service, not a clinical record system, and not intended to store patient identifiable information.
You agree that you will not, under any circumstances:
- Post images that show a patient's face, eyes, distinctive tattoos, jewellery, or anything else that could identify them.
- Post images that include patient names, dates of birth, hospital numbers, NHS numbers, or any other identifier.
- Post messages, comments, or notes that name a patient or could be used to identify a patient.
- Share intra-oral photographs, X-rays, or other clinical images without first removing every identifier and obtaining the patient's documented, informed consent for sharing with a closed peer network.
Before you can upload an image you will be asked to attest, by ticking three explicit consent boxes, that:
- No patient is identifiable in the image.
- You have removed all metadata.
- You have the patient's documented consent to share the image with a closed peer network of dentists.
Our system runs automated face detection and metadata stripping on every upload as a safety net, but you remain solely responsible for the content you post and for compliance with your professional and legal obligations to patients.
If you breach these rules we will immediately remove the content, suspend your account, and may report the breach to the GDC and the Information Commissioner's Office.
4. Acceptable use
You agree not to use the Service to:
- Impersonate any other person, dentist, or organisation
- Harass, bully, intimidate, or threaten any other user
- Post content that is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, or hateful
- Post content that infringes the intellectual property or other rights of another person
- Spam other members, recruit aggressively, or send unsolicited bulk messages
- Promote products, services, or events that are not related to UK dentistry without our prior written permission
- Solicit patients or run direct-to-patient marketing of any kind
- Attempt to access another user's account or data
- Circumvent any technical limitation, rate limit, or security feature
- Scrape, copy, or re-publish the Service or its contents
- Reverse engineer, decompile, or modify the application
- Use the Service to make clinical decisions about a specific named patient or to obtain a "diagnosis" from another member
We may remove any content that breaches these rules and suspend or terminate any account responsible for breaches. Serious or repeated breaches will be reported to the GDC.
5. Your content
5.1 You own your content
You retain all rights in the content you post (your posts, comments, images, messages, and profile information).
5.2 Licence you grant us
To run the Service, we need a licence to host and display your content. You grant So Dental a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, display, and transmit your content as needed to operate the Service. This licence ends when you delete the content or your account.
5.3 Your content as seen by others
- Posts and comments are visible to other verified members of So Dental and may be searchable from within the app.
- Direct messages are visible only to you and the recipient.
- Profile information is visible to other verified members.
- Private forum posts are visible only to other members of that private forum.
We do not sell your content, train AI models on your content, or share it with third parties for advertising.
5.4 Backups
We back up the Service so we can restore it after a failure. Backups may persist for up to 30 days after you delete content. After that they are permanently removed.
6. Messaging
The Service offers direct, one-to-one messaging between verified members. You agree to use messaging only for professional communication and not for harassment, spam, or recruiter outreach to people who have not opted in.
We may at any time without notice add or change limits to:
- The number of unsolicited messages you can send per day
- The number of recipients you can message in a single session
- The total daily message allowance
We do not read your direct messages except where (a) you report them to us, (b) the recipient reports them to us, or (c) we are required to do so by law.
7. Job postings and applications
7.1 Practices posting jobs
Practices that post jobs must:
- Be a verified UK dental practice
- Provide a transparent salary range (no "competitive" or "DOE")
- Provide accurate information about location, contract type, and care type (NHS / private / mixed / locum)
- Not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic
7.2 Dentists applying
Dentists applying for jobs must provide accurate information about their experience, qualifications, and availability.
7.3 So Dental is not the employer
So Dental is a job board. We are not the employer, recruiter, or party to any employment contract. We do not screen, endorse, or guarantee any job posting, applicant, or practice. We are not responsible for the conduct of any employer or applicant.
8. Courses
The Service may link to dental courses and continuing-professional-development (CPD) opportunities offered by third parties. So Dental is not the course provider. We do not endorse or guarantee any course, and we are not responsible for the content, quality, or outcome of any course.
All CPD certification, accreditation, and record-keeping remain the responsibility of the course provider and the dentist.
9. Subscriptions and payments
v1 of the Service is free to use. If we introduce paid features in future, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be able to choose whether to subscribe. Continued use of paid features will be governed by an additional set of terms specific to those features.
10. Suspension and termination
10.1 By us
We may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, if:
- You breach these Terms
- We believe your account has been compromised
- You no longer meet the eligibility requirements (e.g. your GDC registration lapses)
- We are required to do so by law or a regulator
- We discontinue the Service
10.2 By you
You may delete your account at any time from Settings → Account → Delete account. Your profile, posts, and direct messages will be hidden from other users immediately. Underlying data is hard-deleted 30 days later, in line with our Privacy Policy.
10.3 What survives termination
Sections that by their nature should survive (intellectual property, indemnity, limits of liability, governing law, dispute resolution) will survive the termination of these Terms.
11. Intellectual property
The Service, including all software, branding, design, and content (other than user-generated content), is owned by So Dental or our licensors. We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Service in accordance with these Terms.
You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, or create derivative works of any part of the Service.
The names "So Dental" and any logos, marks, and slogans are trademarks of So Dental Ltd.
12. Third-party content and links
The Service may contain links to third-party websites, content, or services (for example, course-provider websites). So Dental does not control these and is not responsible for their content, accuracy, or practices. Your use of any third-party service is at your own risk and governed by the third party's terms.
13. Disclaimers
The Service is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent permitted by law we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement.
The Service is for professional networking only. Nothing on the Service constitutes medical advice. Discussion of cases between members is intended for professional peer discussion only and must not be relied upon to diagnose or treat a specific named patient. You remain professionally responsible for every clinical decision you make.
We do not warrant that:
- The Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure
- Any content posted by other users is accurate, complete, or reliable
- The Service will meet any specific outcome or expectation
14. Limitation of liability
Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for:
- Death or personal injury caused by our negligence
- Fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation
- Anything else that the law does not allow us to limit
Subject to that, to the fullest extent permitted by law:
- We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss
- We are not liable for any loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill
- Our total aggregate liability to you in any 12-month period will not exceed £100
15. Indemnity
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless So Dental, its directors, employees, and agents from any claim, loss, or expense (including reasonable legal costs) arising from:
- Your content
- Your use of the Service
- Your breach of these Terms
- Your breach of any law or third-party right
This includes any claim brought by a patient, regulator, or other third party as a result of content you posted.
16. Changes to these Terms
We may change these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will tell you in the app and by email at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date means you accept the changes.
17. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Service will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Before bringing a dispute, please contact us at hello@sodentalnetwork.com; we will try to resolve it informally and quickly.
18. General
- No waiver. A failure or delay by us in enforcing any right does not mean we have waived it.
- Severability. If any clause is found to be unenforceable, the rest of the Terms remain in force.
- Assignment. You may not assign your rights under these Terms. We may assign ours, for example to a successor business, on reasonable notice.
- Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy form the entire agreement between you and us about the Service.
19. Contact
- General: hello@sodentalnetwork.com
- Privacy: privacy@sodentalnetwork.com
- Security: security@sodentalnetwork.com
- Postal: [Registered office address — to be added before launch]