Privacy policy

Who we are

Fresh Dentistry is a dental practice at 27 Blackburn Rd, Blackburn VIC 3130, operated by Dr Caitlin Oakley. We are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles, and by the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic). As a health service provider, these obligations apply to us regardless of our size.

This policy explains how we handle personal information, including health information, collected through this website and in the course of providing dental care.

Information we collect

Through this website. When you submit our booking form we collect your name, email address, phone number and any details you choose to include in your message. We do not collect payment information through this website.

In the course of care. When you attend the practice we collect health information necessary to provide treatment, including your medical and dental history, current medications, allergies, clinical notes, radiographs and photographs, treatment plans and billing and health fund details.

Automatically. Our web host records standard technical information such as IP address, browser type and pages visited. We also use Google Analytics to understand how the site is used, which may set cookies in your browser. You can opt out using Google's browser add-on or by blocking cookies in your browser settings.

Why we collect it

We collect personal and health information to provide dental treatment, respond to your enquiries, arrange and confirm appointments, process health fund, Medicare, Department of Veterans' Affairs and Child Dental Benefits Schedule claims, send appointment reminders and recall notices, meet our legal and professional record-keeping obligations and improve our services.

If you do not provide the information we ask for, we may not be able to treat you safely or at all.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your information. We may disclose it to specialists and other practitioners when we refer you for care, dental laboratories where a restoration or device is being made for you, your health fund, Medicare or the Department of Veterans' Affairs for claiming purposes, our software and IT providers in the course of maintaining our systems and debt collection or professional advisers where necessary.

We may also disclose information where required or authorised by law, or where necessary to lessen a serious threat to someone's life, health or safety.

Information sent overseas

Our booking form is delivered using Resend, an email service provider located in the United States. When you submit the form, the information in it is transmitted to and processed on servers outside Australia.

Please don't include detailed health information in the booking form. If you need to tell us something sensitive, call us on (03) 9878 8712 or raise it at your appointment.

How we store and protect it

Clinical records are held in our practice management software with access limited to staff who need it. Physical records are kept securely on the premises. We take reasonable steps to protect information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access or disclosure.

We retain adult dental records for at least seven years from the date of last contact. For patients treated as children, records are kept until they turn twenty-five. When records are no longer needed, we destroy or de-identify them securely.

Accessing and correcting your information

You can ask to see the information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is wrong. Contact us and we will respond within a reasonable period. We may ask you to verify your identity, and in limited circumstances permitted by law we may decline a request — if we do, we will explain why.

There may be a reasonable charge for providing copies of records.

Complaints

If you are concerned about how we have handled your information, please contact us first so we can try to resolve it.

If you are not satisfied, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992, or the Health Complaints Commissioner (Victoria) at hcc.vic.gov.au or on 1300 582 113.