Privacy Policy
Last Updated: May 24, 2026
A Smile By Design respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how A Smile By Design collects, uses, discloses, and protects information collected through this website, online forms, communications, scheduling tools, patient engagement tools, and related website features.
1. Contact Information
A Smile By Design
64 Elizabeth St
Dansville, NY 14437
Phone: (585) 335-2120
2. Relationship to HIPAA and the Notice of Privacy Practices
A Smile By Design may collect or maintain information that is protected health information, also called PHI, under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and related rules, commonly known as HIPAA. When information is PHI, our HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices applies to that information. This Privacy Policy describes website, digital, communication, analytics, advertising, and general privacy practices. It does not replace the HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices.
Our HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices takes effect February 16, 2026 and remains in effect until replaced. A Smile By Design is required by law to maintain the privacy of protected health information, provide notice of legal duties and privacy practices, follow the privacy practices described in the current notice, and notify affected individuals following a breach of unsecured protected health information as required by law.
3. Information We Collect
A Smile By Design may collect the following categories of information:
- Contact Information: Name, address, email address, phone number, and communication preferences.
- Appointment and Service Information: Appointment requests, preferred appointment times, service interests, dental concerns, reason for visit, and related scheduling details.
- Health and Dental Information: Information you provide through patient forms, intake forms, health history forms, treatment communications, or patient engagement tools.
- Insurance and Payment Information: Insurance details, billing information, payment information, account balances, and related financial or reimbursement information.
- Communication Information: Calls, voicemails, text messages, emails, form submissions, chat messages, patient portal messages, call recordings, transcripts, and communication metadata.
- Website and Device Information: IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, pages viewed, referring pages, time spent on pages, click activity, cookie identifiers, analytics data, and advertising attribution data.
- Social Media and Advertising Interaction Information: Information related to your interaction with A Smile By Design ads, social media pages, embedded content, or digital campaigns.
4. How We Use Information
A Smile By Design may use information to:
- Provide dental care, treatment, scheduling, and patient support.
- Verify identity, eligibility, insurance coverage, and payment information.
- Send appointment reminders, scheduling updates, account notices, and service-related communications.
- Respond to calls, emails, forms, text messages, and other inquiries.
- Operate, maintain, secure, and improve our website and digital tools.
- Measure website performance, advertising performance, and marketing attribution.
- Improve patient experience, staff training, quality assurance, and operational workflows.
- Comply with HIPAA, New York dental board requirements, legal obligations, subpoenas, court orders, audits, and regulatory requests.
- Protect the rights, safety, property, and security of A Smile By Design, patients, staff, website users, and others.
- Send promotional or marketing communications only as permitted by law and with consent when required.
5. How We May Use and Disclose Protected Health Information
A Smile By Design may use and disclose protected health information for treatment, payment, and health care operations.
- Treatment: We may use and disclose your health information to provide, coordinate, or manage your dental care. For example, we may disclose health information to a specialist involved in your treatment.
- Payment: We may use and disclose your health information to bill and collect payment from you, your insurance company, a dental health plan, or another third party. Payment activities may include billing, collections, claims management, eligibility checks, and coverage determinations.
- Health Care Operations: We may use and disclose your health information for practice operations, such as quality assessment, improvement activities, training, licensing, credentialing, compliance, and business management.
We may also use or disclose health information as permitted or required by law, including for individuals involved in your care or payment for your care, disaster relief, public health activities, law enforcement, health oversight activities, judicial and administrative proceedings, workers’ compensation, research approved by an appropriate board, coroners, medical examiners, funeral directors, national security, and disclosures to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services when required to investigate or determine compliance with HIPAA.
6. Special Protections for Certain Information
Some information may receive special privacy protections under federal or New York law, including HIV-related information, genetic information, mental health records, and alcohol or substance use disorder treatment records. A Smile By Design will follow applicable special protections when they apply.
If A Smile By Design receives or maintains information from a substance use disorder treatment program covered by 42 CFR Part 2, we will use and disclose that information only as permitted by applicable law and any valid consent that applies.
7. Uses and Disclosures Requiring Authorization
A Smile By Design will obtain your written authorization before using or disclosing PHI for purposes not otherwise permitted or required by law. Your written authorization is generally required for the use or disclosure of psychotherapy notes, for use or disclosure of PHI for marketing, and for the sale of PHI, subject to limited exceptions under applicable law. You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time. After receiving your written revocation, we will stop using or disclosing your PHI for that authorization except to the extent we have already relied on it.
8. How We Share Information
A Smile By Design may share information with:
- Dental and medical professionals involved in your care.
- Insurance companies, dental plans, billing services, payment processors, and collections support providers.
- Technology vendors, service providers, contractors, and business associates that support our practice.
- Call tracking, messaging, scheduling, patient engagement, analytics, advertising, and website service providers.
- Regulators, auditors, courts, law enforcement, government agencies, or other parties when required or permitted by law.
- Other parties when you authorize us to share information.
A Smile By Design requires service providers and business associates to protect information according to applicable legal and contractual requirements. We do not sell PHI. We do not sell, rent, or share mobile phone numbers, SMS opt-in data, or SMS consent status with third parties or affiliates for their own promotional or marketing purposes.
9. Third-Party Vendor Disclosures
A Smile By Design uses or may use third-party vendors to operate the website, support patient communications, measure marketing performance, improve user experience, and support practice operations. These vendors may process information on behalf of A Smile By Design.
CallRail
A Smile By Design may use CallRail for call tracking, text tracking, form tracking, attribution, communication analytics, call recording, call transcription, and quality assurance. CallRail may process phone numbers, caller ID information, call details, call recordings, transcripts, text message data, form attribution data, IP address, browser information, referring pages, landing pages, and website interaction data. Where CallRail processes PHI for A Smile By Design, A Smile By Design expects that use to be supported by appropriate HIPAA safeguards and a business associate agreement when required. If calls are recorded or transcribed, A Smile By Design provides notice or obtains consent as required by applicable law.
A Smile By Design may use Google services, including Google Analytics, Google Ads, Google Tag Manager, Google Search Console, Google Business Profile, and Google Maps, to operate the website, understand website usage, improve search visibility, measure advertising performance, and support location-based services. Google may receive cookies, online identifiers, IP address, browser and device information, referral URLs, page interaction data, and advertising attribution data.
A Smile By Design does not authorize Google Analytics or similar Google advertising and analytics tools to collect PHI through patient portals, authenticated pages, payment pages, online scheduling flows, forms requesting health information, or pages where PHI is submitted. Google Analytics is used only for website measurement and is not intended to receive PHI.
Meta
A Smile By Design may use Meta technologies, including the Meta Pixel, Meta Conversions API, Facebook, and Instagram advertising tools, to measure advertising performance, understand interactions with ads, support campaign reporting, and improve marketing. Meta may receive cookies, pixels, online identifiers, IP address, browser and device information, referral URLs, page interaction data, and advertising event data.
A Smile By Design does not authorize Meta tools to collect PHI, treatment information, appointment details, payment information, patient portal information, login data, registration data, or form contents that include health information. Meta tools are intended for general public marketing pages and advertising measurement only.
Dental Intelligence, also known as Dental Intel
A Smile By Design may use Dental Intelligence for patient engagement, online forms, scheduling support, analytics, reminders, reviews, communication workflows, treatment coordination, and operational reporting. Dental Intelligence may process identifiers, contact information, appointment information, health history, dental care information, insurance information, communication information, form submissions, and usage data. Where Dental Intelligence processes PHI for A Smile By Design, A Smile By Design expects that use to be supported by appropriate HIPAA safeguards and a business associate agreement when required.
10. Cookies, Pixels, Analytics, and Tracking Technologies
A Smile By Design may use cookies, pixels, tags, scripts, web beacons, analytics tools, and similar technologies to operate the website, remember preferences, understand site usage, measure performance, improve marketing, detect fraud, and support website security.
You can adjust cookie settings through your browser. Some website features may not function properly if cookies are disabled. A Smile By Design does not treat cookie consent, a cookie banner, this Privacy Policy, or the Terms and Conditions as authorization to disclose PHI to a tracking technology vendor where HIPAA requires a separate permission, safeguard, authorization, or business associate agreement.
11. SMS Messaging and Mobile Data Privacy
If you provide your mobile phone number and consent to receive SMS or MMS messages from A Smile By Design, we use your information solely to deliver the messaging services you have opted into.
No mobile information will be sold or shared with third parties for promotional or marketing purposes. We may share your Personal Information, including your SMS opt-in or consent status, with third parties that help us provide our messaging services, including but not limited to platform providers, phone companies, carriers, compliance providers, and any other vendors who assist us in the delivery, management, or support of text messages.
Informational and transactional messages may include appointment reminders, scheduling updates, account notices, patient support, and practice-related communications. Marketing or promotional text messages require separate consent where required by law. Consent to receive marketing texts is not required as a condition of receiving dental care, goods, or services from A Smile By Design. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply.
You may opt out of receiving SMS communications at any time by replying STOP to any message or by contacting us at (585) 335-2120. For help, reply HELP or contact us directly. Upon receipt of your opt-out request, we will promptly stop sending SMS messages to your number, except for one-time confirmation of your opt-out or as otherwise permitted by law.
12. Email and Electronic Communications
A Smile By Design may communicate with you by email, phone, voicemail, text message, patient portal, or other electronic methods. Standard email and standard text messaging may not always be encrypted or secure. By using standard email or text message, you understand there may be privacy and security risks. Do not send sensitive information through unsecured channels unless instructed by A Smile By Design or unless you choose to do so.
13. How We Protect Information
A Smile By Design uses administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These safeguards may include access controls, workforce training, vendor review, secure systems, encryption where appropriate, monitoring, and other reasonable security measures. No website, network, system, or communication method can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
A Smile By Design also maintains reasonable safeguards for private information as required by applicable New York data security and breach-notification laws, including the New York SHIELD Act where applicable.
14. Retention of Information
A Smile By Design retains information for as long as necessary to provide services, operate the practice, comply with legal and professional obligations, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, maintain records, and support legitimate business purposes. Health records and billing records may be retained according to HIPAA, New York law, dental board requirements, payer requirements, and other applicable obligations.
15. Your Health Information Rights
Subject to legal limitations, you may have the following rights regarding your protected health information:
- Access: You may request to inspect or receive copies of your health information.
- Electronic Copy: If we maintain your information electronically, you may request an electronic copy in a readily producible format.
- Amendment: You may request that we amend health information you believe is incorrect or incomplete.
- Disclosure Accounting: You may request an accounting of certain disclosures of your health information.
- Restriction Request: You may request additional restrictions on certain uses or disclosures of your PHI.
- Health Plan Restriction: If you pay out of pocket in full for a specific health care item or service, you may request that we not disclose information about that item or service to your health plan for payment or health care operations.
- Alternative Communication: You may request that we communicate with you by alternative means or at alternative locations.
- Breach Notification: You have the right to receive notice of breaches of unsecured protected health information as required by law.
- Paper Copy: You may request a paper copy of our HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
To exercise these rights, contact the A Smile By Design Privacy Official using the contact information below.
16. Marketing Communications
A Smile By Design may send marketing communications where permitted by law and with consent where required. You may opt out of marketing text messages by replying STOP. Transactional, treatment-related, account, safety, or legally required communications may continue where permitted by law.
17. Children and Minors
A Smile By Design provides dental services to patients of different ages, including minors. A parent, guardian, or authorized representative may provide information for a minor patient. This website is not intended for unsupervised use by children under 13. If a parent or guardian believes a child has submitted information through this website without appropriate permission, contact us at (585) 335-2120.
18. External Websites and Social Media
This website may link to external websites, social media platforms, review sites, maps, payment tools, patient portals, or third-party services. A Smile By Design is not responsible for the privacy practices, security, or content of those third-party websites or services. Review their privacy notices and terms before using them.
19. Questions, Requests, and Complaints
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, our HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices, or your privacy rights, contact the A Smile By Design Privacy Official:
A Smile By Design Privacy Official
64 Elizabeth St
Dansville, NY 14437
Phone: (585) 335-2120
If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with A Smile By Design using the contact information above. You may also file a written complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A Smile By Design will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint with us or with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
20. Changes to This Privacy Policy
A Smile By Design may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Updates are effective when posted on this website. The “Last Updated” date above reflects the latest version of this Privacy Policy.