Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Regen Smile Studio (“Regen Smile Studio,” “we,” “us” or “our”), a dental practice located at 3208 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60657, collects, uses, shares and protects information when you visit regensmilestudio.com and its subdomains (together, the “Site”), submit a form, call or text us, or interact with our online advertising.

This policy covers our website and online communications. Protected health information we create or receive as part of your dental care is governed by our Notice of Privacy Practices under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), which is provided at our office [and/or linked here once published online]. Where this policy and the Notice of Privacy Practices both apply to the same information, the Notice of Privacy Practices controls.

By using the Site you agree to this policy and to our Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site.

Information you give us

• Contact and appointment requests. When you fill in a form, we collect your name, phone number, email address, the message you write, and the service or page you were enquiring about. You may choose to include information about your dental concern; please share only what you are comfortable sending through a web form.
• Text messaging opt-in. If you tick the SMS consent box or otherwise agree to receive texts, we record your mobile number, the fact that you consented, and when and how you did so.
• Phone calls. When you call us we collect your phone number and the details you share with our team. [If calls are recorded, we say so at the start of the call and obtain your consent as required by the Illinois Eavesdropping Act].
• Reviews and correspondence. Emails, review responses and other messages you send us.

Information collected automatically

• Device and usage data. IP address, browser and device type, operating system, pages viewed, time on page, links clicked, and the page that referred you.
• Campaign and click identifiers. When you arrive from an advertisement or a link, we may capture campaign parameters (such as UTM source, medium, campaign, term and content) and click identifiers assigned by the ad platform (such as Google’s gclid, gbraid and wbraid, or Meta’s fbclid), the landing page and referrer. We store these in your browser and attach them to your enquiry if you submit a form, so we can tell which advertising brought you to us.
• Cookies and similar technologies. See Cookies and advertising below.

Information from other sources

We may receive limited information from advertising and analytics platforms (for example, that a visit came from a particular campaign), from Google Business Profile and review platforms (public reviews you post), and from your dental insurer when we verify coverage at your request.

What we do not collect through the Site

The Site does not collect biometric identifiers or biometric information as defined by the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (such as fingerprints, voiceprints, or scans of face or hand geometry). Photographs are not used to extract facial geometry. The Site does not knowingly collect payment card numbers, Social Security numbers or driver’s license numbers; please do not send these through a web form.

We use the information described above to:

• respond to your enquiry, schedule and confirm appointments, and provide and improve dental care and customer service;
• send appointment reminders, follow-ups and service messages by phone, email or text, according to the consent you have given;
• with your separate consent, send marketing and practice updates, which you can stop at any time;
• understand how the Site is used, fix problems, and improve its content and performance;
• measure and improve our advertising, including attributing an enquiry to the campaign or ad that led to it;
• protect the security and integrity of the Site, prevent fraud and abuse, and enforce our Terms and Conditions;
• comply with legal obligations, including dental record-keeping, HIPAA, and state consumer-protection and privacy laws.

We do not use information collected through the Site to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

Program name: Regen Smile Studio Patient Messaging.

Program description: Regen Smile Studio sends text messages to patients and prospective patients who have opted in. Messages may include appointment requests and confirmations, appointment reminders and scheduling changes, replies to questions you have asked us, pre- and post-visit instructions, requests for feedback, and account or billing notices. Marketing or promotional texts are sent only to people who have separately agreed to receive them.

How you opt in: by ticking the unchecked SMS consent box on one of our web forms, by giving us your mobile number and verbal or written permission at our office or on the phone, or by texting us first. Consent to receive texts is not a condition of any purchase or of receiving treatment.

Message frequency varies depending on your appointments and enquiries.

Message and data rates may apply. Your mobile carrier’s standard messaging and data charges apply to messages you send and receive.

Opting out: reply STOP to any message to stop receiving texts from us. You may also reply UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END or QUIT. After you opt out you will receive one final message confirming that you have been unsubscribed, and no further texts unless you opt in again. You can also ask us to stop by calling or emailing us at the contact details below.

Help: reply HELP to any message for assistance, or contact us at hello@regensmilestudio.com or (312) 584-0707.

Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. Text messaging may not be available on all carriers or devices.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties. We use a communications platform provider solely to deliver our messages on our behalf, under contractual restrictions on how it may use your information. We do not sell, rent or otherwise disclose your mobile number or your opt-in status to lead generators, marketers or any other third party for their own purposes.

Do not rely on text messages for emergencies. If you have a medical emergency, call 911.

The Site uses cookies, local storage and similar technologies. Some are necessary for the Site to work; others help us understand usage and measure advertising.

Technologies we use

• Essential storage. Settings the Site needs to function, including a browser storage entry that remembers the campaign parameters you arrived with so that they can be attached to a form you later submit.
• Website and lead tracking. We use a customer relationship and communications platform (currently GoHighLevel) whose tracking script records page views, form submissions and phone-number clicks on the Site so that our team can follow up on your enquiry and see which campaign it came from.
• Google. We may use Google Ads conversion tracking, Google Analytics and related Google services to measure visits, enquiries and the performance of our advertising, and to show our ads to people who have visited the Site (remarketing). Google may set its own cookies and receive information about your visit. Learn how Google uses data at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
• Meta. We may use the Meta Pixel and related Meta business tools to measure the results of our advertising on Facebook and Instagram and to show our ads to people who have visited the Site. Meta may set cookies and receive information about your visit under its Privacy Policy.
• Call tracking. Phone numbers shown on our advertising pages may be tracking numbers that let us know which advertising led to a call. Calls to these numbers are routed to our office.

Health information and advertising tools

We treat information about your health with particular care. Our advertising and analytics tools are configured to measure visits and enquiries, not to receive the contents of your messages or details about your dental condition. We do not intentionally send protected health information to advertising platforms, and we do not use advertising tools on pages that require you to log in.

Your choices

• Browser settings. Most browsers let you block or delete cookies and clear site storage. Blocking essential storage may affect how the Site works.
• Google. Manage personalized ads at adssettings.google.com and opt out of Google Analytics with the browser add-on.
• Meta. Manage ad preferences in your Facebook or Instagram settings, including “Ads shown off Meta.”
• Industry opt-outs. Opt out of interest-based advertising from participating companies at optout.aboutads.info and optout.networkadvertising.org.

The Site does not currently respond to browser “Do Not Track” signals, because there is no common standard for them. Where a state law requires us to honor a recognized universal opt-out signal such as Global Privacy Control, we will do so.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing. We share information only as follows:

• Service providers that work on our behalf and are permitted to use your information only to provide services to us: our patient relationship and communications platform, website hosting, form and call handling, email delivery, analytics and advertising measurement, scheduling and practice-management software, and payment processing. Where a provider handles protected health information for us, we require a HIPAA business associate agreement.
• Advertising platforms (such as Google and Meta) receive the limited technical data described in Cookies, analytics and advertising so that we can measure and improve our campaigns.
• Your dental insurer and other providers involved in your care, as described in our Notice of Privacy Practices.
• Professional advisers such as lawyers, accountants and insurers, under confidentiality obligations.
• Legal and safety. When required by law, subpoena or court order, to respond to a lawful request from a public authority, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our patients, our team or others.
• Business transfers. If the practice is sold, merged or reorganized, your information may be transferred to the successor, who will be bound by this policy.
• With your direction or consent.

As stated above, text messaging opt-in data and consent are never shared with third parties, and no mobile information is shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.

Regen Smile Studio is a HIPAA covered entity. Protected health information (“PHI”) we create or receive in connection with your treatment, payment or our operations is protected by HIPAA and by Illinois law, and is described in our Notice of Privacy Practices. That notice explains your rights to access, amend and receive an accounting of disclosures of your dental records, and how to file a complaint with us or with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights.

Information you type into a public web form is transmitted to us over an encrypted connection and stored in our patient communications platform. It becomes part of your record once we establish or continue a patient relationship with you. Please use the form for scheduling and general questions, and save detailed clinical history for your visit.

The Site is not a substitute for professional dental advice, diagnosis or treatment, and submitting a form does not by itself create a dentist–patient relationship. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911.

Regardless of where you live, you may ask us to:

• confirm whether we hold personal information about you and provide a copy;
• correct inaccurate personal information;
• delete personal information, subject to our legal obligations to retain dental and business records;
• stop sending you marketing communications, or opt out of the use of your information for targeted advertising;
• withdraw a consent you have given, such as SMS consent.

To exercise these rights, email hello@regensmilestudio.com, call (312) 584-0707, or write to us at 3208 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60657. We will verify your identity before acting on a request, usually by matching the details you provide against what we hold, and we will respond within the time required by applicable law (generally 45 days). You may authorize someone to act for you; we may ask for proof of that authorization. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

Residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws (including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Texas and others) may have additional rights, including the right to appeal a decision we make on a request. Some of those laws exempt PHI governed by HIPAA and entities that are HIPAA covered entities; where an exemption applies, your HIPAA rights under our Notice of Privacy Practices apply instead. Illinois residents have the rights described in this policy and under the Illinois laws referred to below.

• Personal Information Protection Act (815 ILCS 530). We maintain reasonable security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, acquisition, destruction, use, modification or disclosure. If a breach of the security of our systems affects your unencrypted personal information, we will notify you in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay, and will notify the Illinois Attorney General where the law requires.
• Biometric Information Privacy Act (740 ILCS 14). The Site does not collect, capture or store biometric identifiers or biometric information. If our practice ever collects biometric information in the course of your care, we will first inform you in writing, obtain your written release, and publish a retention and destruction schedule as the Act requires.
• Eavesdropping Act (720 ILCS 5/14). Illinois requires the consent of all parties to record a private conversation. [Confirm whether the practice records calls; if so, callers hear a recording notice at the start of every call].
• Telephone and text marketing. We follow the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Illinois telephone solicitation rules: we obtain your prior express consent before sending marketing texts or calls, we honor opt-out requests promptly, and we do not contact numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry for marketing without consent.

The Site is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13, and we ask that children not submit information through the Site. Parents and legal guardians should contact us on behalf of a minor. If you believe a child has provided us information through the Site, contact us and we will delete it.

We keep website enquiry information for as long as needed to respond to you and to maintain a record of our communications, and then for as long as required by law or reasonably necessary for our legitimate business purposes. Dental records are retained for the period required by Illinois law and professional standards. SMS consent records are retained for as long as you remain opted in and for a reasonable period afterwards so that we can demonstrate consent and honor your opt-out. Analytics and advertising data are retained according to the settings of the platform that holds them.

We use administrative, technical and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, including encrypted connections (HTTPS) for the Site, access controls on our systems, and contractual obligations on our service providers. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If you believe your interaction with us is no longer secure, please contact us immediately.

The Site links to and embeds third-party services, including Google Maps, review platforms, social media and online scheduling or payment tools. Those services have their own privacy policies, and we are not responsible for their practices. Information you provide directly to a third party is governed by that party’s policy.

We may update this policy from time to time. The effective date at the top shows when it was last revised. If we make material changes, we will post the updated policy on the Site and, where required by law, notify you by other means. Your continued use of the Site after a change takes effect means you accept the revised policy.

Questions, requests or complaints about this policy or our privacy practices can be sent to:

Regen Smile Studio
Attn: Privacy Officer [name and title]
3208 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
hello@regensmilestudio.com
(312) 584-0707

You also have the right to file a complaint about our handling of protected health information with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, at hhs.gov/ocr/complaints. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.