Privacy Policy

Last updated: 02 July 2026

Dee Why Orthodontics ("we," "us," "our") is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information, including your health information, in accordance with the *Privacy Act 1988* (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

As a specialist orthodontic practice, we are a health service provider. This means we are bound by the Privacy Act and the APPs regardless of our size, even where a general small business might otherwise be exempt.

This policy explains what personal information we collect, how we collect it, why, and what your rights are.

1. What personal information we collect

Depending on your relationship with us, we may collect:

- Contact details: name, address, phone number, email address, date of birth

- Medicare number and private health fund details, for billing and claims purposes

- Health and medical history relevant to orthodontic assessment and treatment

- Dental and orthodontic records, including photographs, digital scans (via our Trios scanners), x-rays, OPGs and lateral cephalograms

- Referral information from your dentist or another health practitioner

- Appointment history and treatment notes

- Payment and billing information

- Information you provide to us directly through our website, such as through our contact form or referral form

- Information collected automatically when you browse our website (see Section 5, Website Data and Cookies)

2. How we collect personal information

We usually collect personal information directly from you or, if you are a minor, from your parent or guardian, when you contact us, attend an appointment, or complete a form on our website. We may also receive information from:

- Referring dentists and other health practitioners involved in your care

- Medicare and private health funds, for billing and claims purposes

- Our website's booking, contact and referral forms

3. Why we collect, use and disclose your personal information

We collect and use personal information to:

- Assess, diagnose, plan and provide orthodontic treatment

- Schedule and manage appointments

- Process payments and health fund or Medicare claims

- Communicate with you about your care, including appointment reminders and follow-up

- Communicate with your referring dentist or other treating practitioners about your care

- Comply with our legal, professional and regulatory obligations, including health record-keeping requirements

- Understand and improve how our website is used

- Send you practice updates or newsletters, but only if you have opted in to receive them

We do not use or disclose your personal information for any other purpose without your consent, unless required or authorised by law.

4. Health information

Health information is treated as sensitive information under the Privacy Act and is subject to stricter handling requirements than other personal information. We only collect health information that is reasonably necessary for your orthodontic assessment and care, and we take extra care in how it is stored, accessed and disclosed.

5. Website data and cookies

Our website uses tools that collect information about how visitors use the site, including:

- Meta (Facebook) Pixel, which may collect data about your browsing activity for advertising and analytics purposes

- Google tags, used for website analytics and, where applicable, advertising conversion tracking

These tools may use cookies and may collect information such as your IP address, browser type, pages visited and referring website. This information is generally not used to identify you personally, but it is handled by Meta and Google in accordance with their own privacy policies, which we encourage you to review. You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings.

6. Who we may disclose your information to

We may disclose your personal information to:

- Your referring dentist or other health practitioners involved in your care

- Medicare and private health funds, for billing and claims purposes

- Third-party service providers who support our practice, such as our practice management software, cloud storage, and website hosting providers

- Anyone else authorised or required by law

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

7. Overseas disclosure

Some of the third-party service providers we use, such as cloud-based practice management software or website hosting and analytics platforms, may store or process information on servers located outside Australia. Where this occurs, we take reasonable steps to ensure your information continues to be protected in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles.

8. Data quality and security

We take reasonable steps to ensure the personal information we hold is accurate, complete and up to date, and to protect it from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. This includes restricting staff access to patient records on a need-to-know basis and using secure systems for storing digital records.

9. Access and correction

You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you, and to request that it be corrected if it is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete. To make a request, please contact us using the details in Section 12. We may need to verify your identity before providing access, and in some circumstances permitted by law, we may charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of retrieving records.

10. Complaints

If you have a concern about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first using the details below so we can try to resolve it directly. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

- Website: www.oaic.gov.au

- Phone: 1300 363 992

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal obligations. The most current version will always be available on our website.

12. Contact us

Dee Why Orthodontics

Suite 4225, Level 2 Commercial Tower, Dee Why Grand, 834 Pittwater Road, Dee Why NSW 2099

Phone: (02) 9982 1050

Email: info@deewhyorthodontics.com.au

ABN: 55 085 580 660