Privacy policy

PRIVACY POLICY

Last updated: 27 August 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Retain & Guard (“Retain & Guard”, “we”, “us” or “our”) collects, uses, stores and shares personal information when you visit retainandguard.co.uk (the “Site”), buy or enquire about our products, send us dental information, contact us, or otherwise use our services (together, the “Services”).

Retain & Guard is the data controller for the personal information described in this Privacy Policy. This means that we decide why and how that information is used.

This Privacy Policy explains our processing practices. Where the law requires consent—for example, for certain marketing, advertising cookies or the processing of dental health information—we will request it separately.

WHO WE ARE AND HOW TO CONTACT US

Retain & Guard
179A Shirley Road
Southampton
Hampshire
SO15 3FG
United Kingdom

Email: cs@retainandguard.co.uk

THE SERVICES WE PROVIDE

We provide stock products and custom-made dental appliances, including orthodontic retainers, night guards, whitening trays and sports mouth guards.

Depending on the option selected, a custom appliance may be made from:

  • Impressions taken using a home impression kit.

  • Existing dental impressions or moulds supplied by you.

  • A digital 3D dental scan supplied by you or, at your request, by your dentist, clinic or scanning provider.

  • Other dental records or specifications needed to manufacture the appliance.

We may manufacture an appliance ourselves or appoint a specialist partner dental laboratory to manufacture or assist with it.

PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

The information we collect depends on how you use our Services.

Information You Give Us

We may collect:

  • Identity and contact information, such as your name, billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone number.

  • Order and transaction information, such as the products ordered, selected options, order number, payment status, delivery details, returns, refunds, remakes and use of our 30-day guarantee.

  • Account information, such as account login details and saved preferences.

  • Communications, including enquiries, customer-support messages, complaints, reviews and any photographs or files you choose to send us.

  • Dental and appliance information, such as physical impressions, dental moulds, 3D scans, scan files, photographs of the teeth or mouth, upper or lower arch information, appliance specifications, fit concerns and manufacturing notes.

  • Marketing preferences, such as whether you wish to receive promotional emails or text messages.

Please do not send us medical or dental information that is not reasonably needed for us to assess, manufacture, fit, remake or support your appliance.

Dental Information and Special-Category Data

Dental scans, impressions, moulds, photographs and related information may reveal information about a person’s oral health. When linked or reasonably linkable to an individual, this may be special-category health data under the UK GDPR and receives additional legal protection.

Where we process dental information as special-category data, we rely on an applicable lawful basis under Article 6 of the UK GDPR and an additional condition under Article 9.

For the manufacture and support of custom appliances, we will normally rely on:

  • Performance of our contract with you under Article 6(1)(b).

  • Your explicit consent under Article 9(2)(a), requested separately when you provide the dental information.

Where processing is carried out by or under the responsibility of a qualified dental professional and is necessary for the provision or management of dental care, we may instead rely on the healthcare condition in Article 9(2)(h), together with applicable UK law and duties of confidentiality.

You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us. Withdrawal does not affect processing that was lawful before your consent was withdrawn.

If we cannot process the dental information needed to make or support a custom appliance, we may be unable to provide or continue that part of the Service. We will explain the practical and contractual consequences before acting on your request.

Information Collected Automatically

When you use the Site, we and our authorised service providers may automatically collect technical and usage information, including:

  • Your IP address, device type, browser type, operating system and approximate location derived from your IP address.

  • Pages viewed, links selected, referring pages, session times, shopping-basket activity and interactions with our Site or communications.

  • Cookie identifiers and similar online identifiers.

We collect this information using cookies, pixels, tags and similar storage or access technologies.

Information We Receive from Other Sources

We may receive information from:

  • Shopify and other providers that operate or support our online store.

  • Payment providers, which send us payment confirmation and limited transaction details. We do not normally receive or store your full payment-card number.

  • Delivery companies and postal services.

  • Your dentist, dental practice, clinic, scanning provider or another person where you have asked or authorised them to send us a scan, mould or related information.

  • Partner dental laboratories involved in manufacturing, quality control or remakes.

  • Fraud-prevention, analytics, advertising and communications providers.

  • Publicly available sources or social-media services where you interact with us.

If you provide us with information about another person—for example, where an appliance is for your child or dependent—you must have the authority to do so and must make this Privacy Policy available to them where appropriate.

HOW AND WHY WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION

We use personal information only where we have a lawful basis.

Processing and Fulfilling Orders

We use identity, contact, account, order and transaction information to:

  • Accept and process payments.

  • Fulfil and deliver orders.

  • Create and manage customer accounts.

  • Arrange deliveries.

  • Manage returns, refunds and exchanges.

  • Provide remakes and administer our 30-day guarantee.

Our lawful basis is normally the performance of our contract with you and, where applicable, compliance with our legal obligations.

Manufacturing Custom Dental Appliances

We use dental information, appliance specifications, order details and relevant contact information to:

  • Assess the information supplied.

  • Design and manufacture a custom appliance.

  • Carry out quality-control checks.

  • Address fit concerns.

  • Provide remakes and after-sales support.

Our lawful basis is normally the performance of our contract with you. Where the information constitutes special-category health data, we also rely on your explicit consent or, where applicable, the healthcare condition described above.

Customer Support and Complaints

We use identity, contact, order and communication information to answer enquiries, provide customer support, investigate complaints and maintain appropriate records of our relationship.

Our lawful bases may include performing our contract, complying with legal obligations and our legitimate interests in providing effective customer service and managing our business.

Security and Fraud Prevention

We may use identity, transaction, technical and usage information to detect and prevent fraud, misuse, unauthorised access and security incidents.

Our lawful bases include our legitimate interests in protecting our customers, Site and business, and compliance with applicable legal obligations.

Improving Our Site and Services

We may use technical, usage and appropriately aggregated information to maintain, analyse and improve our Site, products and Services.

We rely on our legitimate interests and, where required, your consent or another permitted legal basis for cookies and similar technologies.

Marketing and Advertising

We may use contact details, marketing preferences, transaction information and online identifiers to send marketing communications and measure advertising.

We rely on consent or, where legally available, our legitimate interests and the electronic-marketing “soft opt-in” for existing customers. We use advertising cookies and similar technologies only where the required consent has been obtained.

We do not use dental scans, impressions, moulds or oral-health information to target advertising.

Legal, Tax and Compliance Purposes

We may use relevant identity, order, transaction, communication and manufacturing records to:

  • Maintain tax and accounting records.

  • Comply with consumer, product-safety and other legal requirements.

  • Respond to lawful requests from regulators or public authorities.

  • Establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Our lawful bases include compliance with legal obligations and our legitimate interests in protecting our legal rights.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider whether our interests are necessary and balanced against your rights and reasonable expectations.

We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing where those decisions produce legal or similarly significant effects.

PARTNER DENTAL LABORATORIES AND DENTAL DATA

We may appoint specialist partner laboratories to manufacture, finish, quality-check or remake custom appliances.

To do this, we may provide the laboratory with the minimum dental and order information reasonably required, such as:

  • A dental scan, impression or mould.

  • An appliance prescription or specification.

  • Manufacturing and fit instructions.

  • An order or laboratory reference number.

Where practical, the laboratory receives dental data identified by an order or laboratory reference rather than the customer’s name.

This is known as pseudonymisation. It reduces the risk of identification, but the information may still be personal data because it can be linked back to an order. We will only describe information as anonymous where it has been altered so that no person is reasonably identifiable and the process cannot reasonably be reversed.

A partner laboratory may receive a customer’s name or delivery address only where this is necessary—for example, if the laboratory is sending an item directly to the customer.

We require laboratories processing information on our behalf to:

  • Use the information only on our documented instructions.

  • Use it only for the agreed manufacturing or support purpose.

  • Apply appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

  • Restrict access to personnel who need the information.

  • Not use the information for their own marketing or unrelated purposes.

  • Return or securely delete the information when it is no longer required, subject to applicable legal obligations.

Where a laboratory acts as an independent data controller rather than our processor, we will tell you where required. The laboratory will then be responsible for its own Privacy Policy and legal obligations.

HOW WE SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may share the minimum personal information necessary with:

  • E-commerce and IT providers, including Shopify, website-hosting, cloud-storage, order-management and security providers.

  • Payment providers that securely process payments and refunds.

  • Partner dental laboratories involved in manufacturing, finishing, quality control or remakes.

  • Delivery and postal providers that transport impression kits, moulds, impressions and finished products.

  • Communications and customer-support providers used to send service emails or text messages and respond to enquiries.

  • Analytics and advertising providers, subject to your cookie and marketing choices and applicable law.

  • Review platforms and social-media services where you choose to interact with those features.

  • Professional advisers, insurers, accountants, auditors and legal advisers where reasonably necessary.

  • Regulators, courts, law-enforcement bodies or public authorities where disclosure is legally required or necessary to protect rights, safety or prevent wrongdoing.

  • A buyer, investor or successor organisation in connection with a proposed or completed sale, merger, reorganisation or transfer of all or part of our business, subject to appropriate confidentiality protections.

We do not sell dental information.

We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own unrelated purposes unless you direct us to do so, provide consent, or the law permits or requires it.

COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

We use cookies and similar technologies to:

  • Operate essential Site functions, including checkout and security.

  • Remember shopping-basket contents and customer choices.

  • Improve Site functionality.

  • Understand Site use and performance.

  • Measure and personalise marketing and advertising.

Essential technologies may be used without consent where the law permits.

We use advertising technologies only with consent. For other non-essential technologies, we obtain consent or rely on a permitted statutory exception and provide a simple way to object where required.

You can accept, reject or change your optional choices using the cookie-preference controls on the Site.

You can also remove or block cookies through your browser settings. However, some parts of the Site may not work correctly if cookies are blocked.

For more information about cookies used by Shopify to operate its platform, please see Shopify’s Cookie Policy:

https://www.shopify.com/legal/cookies

The Site’s cookie-preference tool provides more specific information about the technologies currently in use.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

We may send marketing communications where you have consented or where the law otherwise permits, such as the “soft opt-in” for certain existing customers.

You can opt out at any time by:

  • Selecting the unsubscribe link in a marketing email.

  • Following the opt-out instructions in a text message.

  • Changing any available account preferences.

  • Contacting us at cs@retainandguard.co.uk.

Opting out of marketing does not stop service messages that are necessary to manage an enquiry or order.

We may retain a minimal suppression record so that we can continue to respect your opt-out request.

REVIEWS AND PUBLIC CONTENT

If you submit a product review or other content for publication, the name or alias and content you choose to publish may be visible to anyone.

Please do not include dental data, health information, contact details or other information that you do not want made public.

We may moderate or remove content in accordance with our terms and applicable law.

CHILDREN AND ORDERS FOR MINORS

The Site and purchasing process are intended for adults. However, an adult may order an appliance for a child or dependent, such as a sports mouth guard or retainer.

If you provide information about a person under 18, you confirm that you are their parent, legal guardian or otherwise authorised to act on their behalf.

We may request evidence of that authority where appropriate.

We process a child’s information only as reasonably necessary to provide the requested Service, protect their interests and comply with the law.

Children have their own data-protection rights. An authorised adult may exercise those rights on their behalf where legally appropriate.

We do not knowingly use children’s dental or health information for targeted advertising.

DATA SECURITY

We use proportionate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information.

These measures include:

  • Access controls.

  • Data minimisation.

  • Confidentiality requirements.

  • Secure service providers.

  • Procedures for handling suspected personal-data breaches.

No method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure.

Please use the upload or transfer method we specify when sending scans or other dental data, and do not send unnecessary sensitive information through unsecured channels.

HOW LONG WE KEEP PERSONAL INFORMATION

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.

This includes providing our Services, meeting legal, tax and accounting obligations, handling complaints, supporting product safety and establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.

The periods or criteria we normally apply are:

  • Order, payment, tax and accounting records: For the period required by applicable tax, accounting and consumer law, commonly at least six years.

  • Customer-service, return, refund, remake, guarantee and complaint records: For as long as necessary to resolve the matter and, where appropriate, for the period during which a legal claim may be made.

  • Dental scans, photographs, manufacturing files and related records: For as long as needed to manufacture and deliver the appliance, provide after-sales support, administer the 30-day guarantee or a remake, investigate a complaint, meet product-safety or regulatory duties, or handle a legal claim.

  • Limited manufacturing records: We may retain a limited manufacturing record after deleting or de-identifying the underlying scan or photograph.

  • Physical impressions and moulds: For as long as needed to fulfil and support the relevant order. They may then be returned, securely destroyed or otherwise handled in accordance with our applicable service or returns terms.

  • Account information: While the account remains active and for a reasonable period afterwards for administration, dispute prevention and legal compliance.

  • Marketing information: Until you opt out or we determine that the information is no longer current. We may retain a minimal suppression record afterwards.

  • Cookie and analytics information: For the periods shown in our cookie-preference tool or the relevant provider’s information.

When information is no longer required, we delete it, securely destroy it or irreversibly anonymise it.

Backup copies may remain for a limited period before being overwritten or deleted through our ordinary backup cycle.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

Some service providers may store or access personal information outside the United Kingdom.

If we make a restricted transfer of personal information, we use a lawful transfer mechanism where required, such as:

  • UK adequacy regulations.

  • The UK International Data Transfer Agreement.

  • The UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

  • Another safeguard or exception permitted by UK data-protection law.

We also assess and apply supplementary protections where required.

You may contact us for more information about the safeguards relevant to your personal information.

YOUR DATA-PROTECTION RIGHTS

Subject to legal conditions and exceptions, you may have the right to:

  • Access your personal information and obtain a copy.

  • Correct inaccurate or incomplete information.

  • Request erasure of information in certain circumstances.

  • Restrict how information is used in certain circumstances.

  • Receive or transfer certain information in a portable format.

  • Object to processing based on legitimate interests.

  • Object at any time to the use of your information for direct marketing.

  • Withdraw consent at any time where processing relies on consent, without affecting earlier lawful processing.

  • Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

These rights are not absolute.

We may ask for information reasonably necessary to verify your identity and authority before responding. We will normally respond within one month, although the law permits an extension in certain circumstances.

There is usually no charge, but the law permits a reasonable fee or refusal in limited circumstances.

To exercise any of these rights, email cs@retainandguard.co.uk and describe your request.

THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES

The Site may link to websites, applications or services operated by other organisations.

Their handling of personal information is governed by their own privacy policies. We are not responsible for third-party services that we do not control.

COMPLAINTS

Please contact us first if you have concerns about how we use your personal information so that we have an opportunity to investigate and respond.

You also have the right to complain to the UK supervisory authority:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to our Services, providers, business practices or legal obligations.

We will post the revised version on the Site and update the date at the top.

If a change materially affects how we use personal information, we will take additional steps to notify you where required by law.