We respect your privacy

In order to provide you with the highest standard of dental care, this practice is required to collect personal information from you. This information covers basic details such as your name, address and telephone number but it is also necessary to obtain details regarding your general health, past medical or surgical events, medications you are taking as well as your dental history. Without this general health picture, the treating Orthodontist is unable to plan your care properly.

Each time you attend this practice, your Orthodontist records notes relating to your visit and your treatment. These notes include dates, details of any discussions with you and details of the treatment provided on the day. There may also be exchanges of correspondence between your Orthodontist and other healthcare professionals involved in your treatment, in particular any dental clinic from which you have been referred for treatment.

Naturally, some of this information is of a personal nature and some of it might be regarded as 'sensitive' and not the sort of information that you would wish to be unnecessarily disclosed to others.

We value the need to safeguard this information and, in accordance with the principles laid down in Federal Privacy Legislation and the guidelines issued by the Australian Dental Association, we would like to assure you that:

• Any information collected about you or your treatment will be kept safely and securely in confidential records within the practice. At this practice we keep some information on paper and other records as electronic information on a secure computer. Your records may include photographs, radiographs (X-rays), study models, special reports from other specialists and correspondence between other healthcare professionals or third parties involved in your care and treatment.
   
• We will take reasonable steps to protect this information from misuse or loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
   
• We will take reasonable steps to ensure at all times that the details we keep about you are accurate, complete and up-to-date.
   
• This information will only be used by the treating clinicians in order to deliver your care to the highest standards.
   
• No information will be disclosed to those not associated with your treatment, without your express consent.
   
• You may seek access to the information held about you, and other people can make such a request on your behalf with your prior written agreement. This access might be by inspection of your dental records at the time of appointment or by special access at other times or via copying of information. All the original records we keep about you (including X-rays etc) will remain the property of this practice at all times. You do have a right to request a copy of any part, or all of your records. Although there is a formal process for this, we will provide access to, or copies of your records without undue delay.
   
• There will be no charge made for requesting this information but a reasonable administrative fee may be levied to cover the costs associated with the copying of your records should it be required.
• Case studies, lectures and professional meetings form an important part of the ongoing training and development of Orthodontists and practice staff, for the ultimate benefit of all the patients we treat. Steps are taken to ensure that the identity of any patient whose records may be used for this purpose, is not revealed outside the practice.
   
• Our staff are trained to respect these principles at all times.

If you have any questions regarding the information we collect from you and hold in your dental records, please do not hesitate to ask us. We are acting in your interests at all times.