Terms and Conditions

1. Who we are and what these terms cover

Dental Connect ("Dental Connect", "we", "us") operates the website and platform at dentalconnect.co.tz (the "Platform"), connecting patients with independent dental clinics, and clinics with independent dental-supply companies, in Tanzania. By creating an account, browsing the Platform, booking an appointment, listing a business, submitting a review, or otherwise using the Platform, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United Republic of Tanzania. If any provision is later found unenforceable, the rest of these Terms remain in full force, and the unenforceable part will be read to achieve its intent as closely as the law allows.

2. Dental Connect is a directory and booking tool, not a clinic

We do not practise dentistry, employ dentists, provide medical or dental advice, or treat patients. Every clinic on the Platform is an independent, separately owned and operated business, solely responsible for its own licensing, staff, equipment, hygiene standards, diagnoses, treatment, pricing, and the accuracy of anything it publishes on its profile. Every supplier is likewise an independent business responsible for its own products, quality, pricing and fulfilment. Dental Connect does not select, supervise, employ, insure or guarantee any clinic, dentist or supplier, and "verification" on the Platform means only that a business has submitted documents we have reviewed for completeness, it is not a guarantee of quality, safety, licensing status at any given time, or outcome.

Nothing on the Platform is medical advice. Always seek the advice of a qualified dental or medical professional with any questions about a health condition, and never disregard professional advice because of something you read on the Platform.

3. Eligibility and your account

• You must be at least 18 years old to create an account. A parent, guardian or the clinic itself is responsible for the records of a patient under 18, held by that clinic under its own patient-management obligations.
• You must give accurate, current information and keep your login details confidential. You are responsible for all activity on your account, whether or not you authorised it, except where caused by our own security failure.
• We may require a working email or phone number to verify your identity and to deliver appointment, order and security notices; failing to keep this current is at your own risk.
• You must tell us promptly if you suspect unauthorised access to your account.

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to, and not to help anyone else to:

• impersonate a person, clinic, dentist or supplier, or misrepresent your affiliation with one;
• post false, defamatory, misleading, hateful, obscene or unlawful content, including a fabricated review or one written by someone who was not actually a patient at that clinic;
• use the Platform to send unsolicited advertising, spam, or to harvest other users' contact details for a purpose unrelated to your own care, listing or quotation request;
• attempt to gain unauthorised access to any account, data or system, probe, scan or test the Platform's security, or interfere with its normal operation (including by overloading it, introducing malware, or scraping data at scale);
• upload a file that is malicious, infringes someone else's rights, or contains sensitive personal data of someone else without their permission;
• use the Platform for any purpose that is illegal under Tanzanian law or the law of the place you are accessing it from;
• circumvent the restricted, business-only marketplace to sell to or solicit patients, or otherwise bypass features designed to keep clinical and commercial relationships separate as described in our published architecture.

We may investigate suspected violations and take any action we consider appropriate, including removing content, suspending or terminating an account, and reporting unlawful conduct to the relevant authorities.

5. Reviews and other content you submit

When you submit a review, message, document, product listing, photo or other content ("User Content"), you confirm it is truthful, that you have the right to submit it, and that it does not violate anyone else's rights. You grant Dental Connect a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to host, store, reproduce, display and distribute your User Content on and through the Platform for as long as it remains published, and afterwards to the extent kept in our records or backups as described in our Privacy Policy.

We may moderate, decline to publish, hide, edit for length or format, or remove any User Content at our discretion, including in response to a complaint, without being obliged to do so and without liability for content we do not catch. We are not responsible for the accuracy of any review, listing or message, which reflects the views of the person who posted it and not of Dental Connect.

6. Appointments, quotations and payments

• An appointment request is not confirmed until the clinic accepts it. The clinic, not Dental Connect, is responsible for honouring, rescheduling or cancelling appointments and for the care given.
• A request-for-quotation ("RFQ") between a clinic and a supplier is a private commercial negotiation between those two businesses. Dental Connect is not a party to it, does not guarantee price, quality, delivery or payment, and takes no commission or fee on it.
• The only payments Dental Connect collects are onboarding package fees from clinics and suppliers for using the Platform. We never collect, hold or process payment between a patient and a clinic, or between a clinic and a supplier; those are arranged directly between the parties, entirely outside the Platform, and entirely at their own risk.
• Onboarding fees are billed for the term you choose (3, 6 or 12 months) and are non-refundable once your account has been activated, except where required by law or where we expressly agree otherwise in writing. If your account is suspended or terminated by us for a Terms violation, no refund is due for the remaining term.

7. Verification and suspension

We may ask a clinic or supplier for licensing, registration, identity or other documents before or after listing them, may reject or revoke verification at our discretion, and may suspend or deactivate any account (patient, clinic, supplier, dentist or staff) that we reasonably believe: violates these Terms; is fraudulent, unlicensed or misrepresenting itself; poses a risk to patients, other users or the Platform; or is the subject of a serious, credible complaint pending investigation. Where practical we will tell you why, but urgent safety or legal concerns may require immediate suspension without prior notice.

8. Complaints and disputes between users

Dental Connect provides a complaints channel so patients, clinics and suppliers can raise concerns with us, and we may review, moderate, warn, suspend or terminate accordingly. We are not an arbitrator, ombudsman or court, we do not adjudicate clinical negligence, contractual, consumer or commercial disputes between users, and taking a complaint does not make us a party to that dispute or liable for its outcome. A dispute over care received, goods supplied, or money owed between users is between those users, and any claim, if pursued, must be brought against the clinic, supplier or individual concerned, not against Dental Connect.

9. No warranty

The Platform, and everything on it, is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including any warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, availability, or non-infringement, to the maximum extent the law allows. We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of harmful components, or that any clinic, dentist, supplier or product listed is currently licensed, safe, suitable or of any particular standard.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by Tanzanian law:

• Dental Connect, its owners, directors, employees and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of profit, revenue, data, goodwill, or business opportunity, arising out of or relating to your use of the Platform, even if we were advised of the possibility of such damages;
• we are not liable for any act, omission, negligence, malpractice, misrepresentation, data breach, non-delivery, defective product, or any other conduct of a clinic, dentist, supplier, patient or other user, those parties are independent of Dental Connect and act on their own account;
• our total aggregate liability to you for any claim arising from or relating to the Platform, however caused, will not exceed the greater of (a) the total onboarding fees you paid us in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) TZS 100,000;
• nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, such as liability for death or personal injury caused by our own proven negligence, fraud, or wilful misconduct.

11. You agree to indemnify us

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Dental Connect and its owners, directors, employees and agents from any claim, demand, loss, liability, cost or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to: your use or misuse of the Platform; your User Content; your violation of these Terms or of any law; your violation of any third party's rights; or, if you are a clinic, dentist or supplier, the care, products, services or conduct you provide or fail to provide to any patient, clinic or supplier you dealt with, in whole or in part, through the Platform.

12. Intellectual property

The Platform, its design, code, look and feel, and the Dental Connect name and logo are owned by Dental Connect or its licensors and may not be copied, reproduced, or used without our prior written consent, other than as needed to use the Platform normally. Each clinic and supplier retains ownership of the profile content, photos, product listings and other material it uploads, subject to the licence it grants us under Section 5.

13. Suspension, termination and changes to the Platform

You may stop using the Platform, or ask us to deactivate your account, at any time. We may suspend, restrict, or terminate your access, or discontinue any part of the Platform, at any time and for any lawful reason, including a breach of these Terms, non-payment of an onboarding fee, or a business decision to change or retire a feature, with notice where reasonably practical. On termination, sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive (including Sections 6, 9, 10, 11 and 15) continue to apply.

14. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time, for example to reflect a new feature, a change in the law, or feedback from users. We will post the updated Terms here with a new effective date and version number, and where the change is material we will ask you to accept it again before you continue using the Platform. Continuing to use the Platform after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United Republic of Tanzania, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Before either of us starts a court claim against the other, we agree to first try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting each other in writing and negotiating in good faith for at least 30 days. If that does not resolve it, the courts of Tanzania have exclusive jurisdiction, unless the law that applies to you as a consumer gives you the right to bring a claim in your own local courts instead.

16. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to info@dentalconnect.co.tz or support@dentalconnect.co.tz.

This page is a plain-language summary of our contractual terms and is not itself legal advice to you. If you have a legal question about your own rights or obligations, please consult an independent lawyer.