Version 2026-11.1 · Last updated 29 October 2026
Section 01
About this policy
This policy explains how Systems for Dentists Limited ("SfD", "we", "us") uses personal information collected through www.sfd.co, our enquiry and demo forms, and our sales and marketing communications.
This policy does not cover patient or practice data processed within SfD software on behalf of dental practices. For that data, the practice is the controller and SfD acts as its processor under our customer agreements. Please contact your practice about how it handles your information.
Section 02
Who we are
The data controller is Systems for Dentists Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 02199244). Our registered office is Rosehill, New Barn Lane, Cheltenham, England, GL52 3LZ.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under registration number Z2610376.
For anything about this policy or your personal information, contact us at caroline@sfd.support or write to the address above.
Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at caroline@sfd.support or at our registered office address.
Section 03
What we collect and why
| What | Where it comes from | Why we use it | Lawful basis (UK GDPR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name, practice name, job role, email, phone, and your message | Contact and Book a Demo forms | To respond to your enquiry, arrange demos and provide quotes | Legitimate interests (responding to business enquiries), or steps at your request before entering a contract |
| Your marketing choice and when you made it | The optional marketing checkbox on our forms | To send SfD news, product updates, offers and event invitations by email, only if you tick the box | Consent |
| Customer account contacts | When your practice becomes a customer | To provide, support and invoice our services | Contract; legal obligation (accounting records) |
| Website usage data (pages viewed, approximate location from your IP address, device and browser type) | Google Analytics, only if you accept analytics cookies | To understand how the site is used and improve it | Consent (under PECR) for the cookies; legitimate interests for the resulting statistics |
| Your browsing on sfd.co (pages viewed and when), linked to a browser identifier | The Freshworks tracker, only if you accept Marketing & CRM cookies | To link your browsing on sfd.co to your enquiry record in our CRM (Freshworks' Freshsales) | Consent |
| Whether your visit led to a demo request, and an identifier for the Google advert that brought you to the site | Google Ads conversion measurement, only if you accept Marketing & CRM cookies | To measure which of our own Google adverts lead to demo requests | Consent |
| Technical data (IP address, browser and device signals, interactions with the form) | Google reCAPTCHA, which loads only once you start filling in a form; server logs | To protect our forms from spam and abuse and keep the site secure | Legitimate interests (security) |
You don't have to give us your details. If you don't, we won't be able to respond to your enquiry.
We don't make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects. We don't sell your information.
Section 04
Email marketing
We'll only send you marketing emails if you tick the marketing box on one of our forms, or otherwise opt in. You can withdraw at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email, or by contacting us. After you unsubscribe, we keep a minimal record of your email address on a suppression list so that we don't contact you again.
Emails about an enquiry you made, or about a service you use, are not marketing. You'll still receive those.
Section 07
International transfers
Some of our providers process data outside the UK. Where they do, we make sure there is a lawful safeguard under UK GDPR:
- United States: transfers to Google rely on the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (the UK-US data bridge), under which Google is certified. As a back-up, they're also covered by the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses in Google's data processing terms.
- Freshworks: stored in Freshworks' EU data centre (EEA), covered by UK adequacy regulations.
- Elsewhere: the ICO's International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
You can ask us for more detail about these safeguards.
Section 08
How long we keep information
| Information | Retention |
|---|---|
| Enquiries and demo requests that don't lead to a contract | 2 years from last contact |
| Customer account and contract records | The life of the contract, plus 6 years |
| Marketing consent records | For as long as you're subscribed, plus 2 years as evidence of consent |
| Marketing suppression list (after you unsubscribe) | Indefinitely, so we don't email you again (email address only) |
| Google Analytics data | 14 months |
| Server and security logs | 90 days |
sfd_consent record | 6 months, then we ask again |
Section 09
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to:
- access your personal information and receive a copy
- rectification, meaning we correct inaccurate or incomplete information
- erasure, meaning we delete your information in certain circumstances
- restriction, meaning we limit how we use your information
- data portability, meaning you receive information you gave us in a portable format, or have it sent to another organisation, where processing is based on consent or contract and is automated
- object to processing based on legitimate interests, and object at any time to direct marketing
- withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent. This doesn't affect anything we did before you withdrew.
To use any of these rights, contact us at caroline@sfd.support. We'll respond within one month. That can be extended in some circumstances, and if so we'll tell you. We may need to confirm your identity first.
Section 10
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please contact us first at caroline@sfd.support so we can try to put it right.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, or 0303 123 1113.
Section 11
Changes to this policy
We'll update this policy when our practices change. If a change affects cookies, we'll ask for your choices again. The version and date at the top show when it last changed.