This Privacy Policy explains how Rooted Dental Studio collects, uses, and protects your personal information. By using our website and services, you consent to the practices described below.

This notice describes how medical and dental information about you may be used and disclosed, and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully. We respect our legal obligation to keep health information that identifies you private, and we are committed to giving you notice of our privacy practices.

Information we collect

Personal information: We may collect your name, contact details (email, phone number), and date of birth to schedule appointments and provide dental care services.

Health information: To provide the best possible dental care, we may collect your medical and dental history, information about your dental conditions, and treatment preferences.

Usage information: We may collect information about how you use our website, such as browsing activity, pages visited, and the date and time of your visits.

Appointment reminders: We will collect your consent to send appointment reminders through email and text messages.

How we use your information

Appointment scheduling: To schedule and manage your dental appointments.

Communication: To send appointment reminders, updates, and important information about your dental care.

Improving our services: To enhance the quality of our dental care and improve our website experience.

Legal and regulatory compliance: To comply with all applicable legal and regulatory obligations.

Treatment, payment and health care operations

The most common reason we use or disclose your health information is for treatment, payment, or health care operations. This includes setting up appointments, examining your oral health, prescribing medications or dental appliances, referring you to another provider, and processing insurance claims or billing. We routinely use your health information within our office for these purposes. Special written permission will be requested for anything related to HIV/AIDS status, sale of information, or use of information for marketing or fundraising purposes.

Automated messages

As part of our services, we may send automated messages including appointment reminders and post-op instructions via SMS or email. You agree to receive these messages at any time. Message frequency varies and data rates may apply depending on your mobile or email provider plan.

You can reply STOP to unsubscribe from SMS messages, or use the opt-out link in our email messages at any time.

Sharing of information

We do not sell, trade, or transfer your personal information to outside third parties. Your information is kept confidential within our dental practice and is only accessible to authorized personnel who need it to perform their duties.

Mobile information: No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Information sharing to subcontractors in support services (such as customer service) is permitted. All other use case categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent. This information will not be shared with any third parties.

Uses and disclosures without permission

In some limited situations, the law allows or requires us to use or disclose your health information without your permission. These include:

• When a state or federal law mandates reporting for a specific purpose
• For public health purposes, such as contagious disease reporting or surveillance
• Disclosures to governmental authorities about victims of suspected abuse, neglect, or domestic violence
• Health oversight activities such as licensing, audits, or investigation of health care law violations
• Judicial and administrative proceedings, such as in response to subpoenas or court orders
• Law enforcement purposes as permitted by law
• Disclosure to a medical examiner or funeral directors as required by law
• Uses or disclosures for health related research
• To prevent a serious threat to health or safety
• Disclosures to business associates who perform health care operations and commit to protecting your information

Your rights regarding your health information

The law gives you several rights. You can:

• Ask us to restrict how we use or disclose your information for treatment, payment, or operations
• Request that we communicate with you in a confidential way (e.g., phone you at work instead of home)
• Ask to review or receive photocopies of your health information within 10 days of your request
• Ask us to amend incorrect or incomplete health information within 60 days
• Request a list of disclosures made within the past six years
• Request additional paper copies of this Notice of Privacy Practices at any time

You will be notified in a timely manner of any breach of privacy involving your unsecured protected health information, in accordance with applicable law.

Security, cookies and third-party links

Security: We implement a variety of security measures to protect your personal information when you submit details on our website or through our systems.

Cookies: Our website may use cookies and tracking technologies to improve your experience. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, though this may affect certain features of our website.

Third-party links: Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites, and we encourage you to review their privacy policies independently.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date. We reserve the right to apply updated privacy practices to health information we already hold, as well as information we collect in the future. We encourage you to review this page regularly. If we change our practices, we will also post the updated notice in our office and have copies available upon request.

Complaints

If you believe we have not properly respected the privacy of your health information, you are free to file a complaint with us or with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. We will not retaliate against you for making a complaint. To file a complaint with us, please contact us in writing at the address or email below.