Privacy policy

Who we are

Dental Texas, PLLC operates the Dental practice in Austin, Texas, and is responsible for the information described in this policy.

Questions about this policy or requests relating to your information should be sent to our Privacy Officer at privacy@dentaltexas.com or by mail to the Austin practice.

Information we collect

• Identity and contact details: your name, date of birth, address, phone number and email address.
• Appointment information: the branch, dentist, date, time, appointment reason and any note you add when booking.
• Health information: medical history, dental history, clinical notes, radiographs, photographs and treatment records.
• Payment information: amounts, dates, method and insurer details. We never store full card numbers — card payments are processed by our payment provider.
• Guardian details where a patient is under 18, and emergency contact details where you provide them.
• Website information: pages visited and general usage statistics, collected only where you have accepted analytics cookies.

Why we hold it and on what basis

We hold your contact and appointment information in order to provide the dental care you have asked us for, and to contact you about your appointments.

We hold your health information because it is necessary for the provision of health care and because we are professionally and legally required to keep accurate clinical records.

We hold payment records to meet accounting and tax obligations.

We send you marketing or newsletter content only where you have separately opted in, and you can withdraw that consent at any time without it affecting your care.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your data, and we never share health information with advertising or analytics platforms.

• Our clinicians and staff who are involved in your care, on a need-to-know basis.
• Dental laboratories, where a restoration is being made for you. They receive only what is required to make it.
• Specialists or hospitals, where you are referred and you have agreed to that referral.
• Your dental plan, when you ask us to verify benefits or submit a claim on your behalf.
• Our IT, SMS, email and payment providers, who process data on our instructions under written agreements.
• Regulators, courts or authorities, where we are legally required to disclose.

How long we keep it

Clinical and billing records are kept for the periods required by Texas and federal law and by applicable professional rules. Records for minors may be retained longer.

Contact inquiries that do not lead to an appointment are deleted after twenty-four months. Notification delivery logs are kept for twelve months. Website analytics data is retained for fourteen months.

Your rights

We respond to requests within the time required by law and will tell you in writing if an extension is permitted and needed.

• Ask for a copy of the information we hold about you.
• Ask us to correct anything inaccurate in your contact details or records.
• Ask us to delete information, where we are not required to retain it for clinical or legal reasons.
• Object to, or withdraw consent for, marketing communications at any time.
• Ask us to restrict how we use your information while a concern is being resolved.
• File a privacy complaint with us or with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services without retaliation.

How we protect it

Clinical systems are accessed only through individual named accounts with role-based permissions, and access to records is logged. Data is encrypted in transit and sensitive fields are encrypted at rest. Backups are encrypted and stored separately from our main systems.

We do not include clinical details in ordinary SMS messages, and we do not put identifying information in web addresses.