Privacy Policy

SmileSmiths Dental Practice (“SmileSmiths”, “we”) is an oral hygiene practice at 11 Van der Lingen Street, Esterville, Paarl, 7646, Western Cape. We are the responsible party, as POPIA defines it, for the personal information described in this policy.

It covers information you give us through this website, over WhatsApp, phone or email, when you order from our shop, and when you visit us for treatment.

• This website does not use cookies, analytics or advertising trackers of its own, and it has no accounts or logins.
• Like any website, the servers that host it record basic technical details when a page is requested — such as your IP address, browser type and the page visited — to keep the site secure and running.
• The map at the bottom of each page is provided by Google Maps. When it loads, Google receives your IP address and may set its own cookies, under Google’s privacy policy.
• Links to WhatsApp, Instagram and Google take you to those services, where their own privacy policies apply.

The form asks for your name, phone number, the services you’re interested in and your preferred date and time, plus your email address and a note if you choose to add them.

The website does not store or send any of it. When you press “Send request on WhatsApp”, your details are put together on your own device into a WhatsApp message. Nothing reaches us unless you press send inside WhatsApp.

Please keep the note short and leave out detailed medical history — we’d rather talk that through with you at your appointment.

• Contact details — your name, phone number and email address.
• Booking details — the services you ask about, your preferred times, and the messages you send us.
• Shop orders — what you order, and your delivery address if you’d like it delivered.
• Health information — your medical and dental history and treatment records. POPIA treats this as special personal information. We collect it only because we need it to treat you safely, and it is kept confidential.
• Medical aid details — the details needed to submit claims on your behalf.

• To reply to you, and to arrange, confirm or change appointments.
• To provide safe, appropriate treatment and keep accurate records.
• To submit claims to your medical aid or insurer.
• To process shop orders, and deliver them where you’ve asked us to.
• To meet our legal and professional obligations, including those of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).

We do not sell your information. We will only send you marketing messages if you have agreed to receive them, and you can ask us to stop at any time.

We share personal information only where it is needed:

• With your medical aid or insurer, to submit claims.
• With whoever delivers a shop order, limited to what they need to get it to you.
• With other healthcare providers if you need a referral, with your consent.
• With the services that carry our messages, such as WhatsApp and email providers.
• With authorities, where the law requires it.

Some of these services, including WhatsApp and Google, store information outside South Africa. POPIA only allows that where the information stays protected to a comparable standard, and we use these services on that basis.

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the reason it was collected, or for as long as the law requires. Clinical records are kept for the periods set by the HPCSA’s record-keeping guidelines, and financial records for as long as tax law requires. After that, information is securely deleted or destroyed.

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to keep your information secure and confidential, and limit access to the people who need it to look after you.

WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted. Ordinary email is not, so please avoid sending sensitive health information by email.

We see patients of all ages. For children under 18, we collect personal information with the consent of a parent or legal guardian, who can use the rights below on the child’s behalf.

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• ask whether we hold personal information about you, and request a copy;
• ask us to correct information that is wrong or out of date;
• ask us to delete information we no longer have a lawful reason to keep;
• object to how we use your information, including for direct marketing;
• withdraw consent you have given, without affecting what was done before;
• complain to the Information Regulator.

To make a request, contact us using the details below. We may need to confirm your identity first. Some information, such as clinical records, must be kept for a minimum period by law even if you ask us to delete it — if so, we’ll tell you.

For questions, requests or concerns about your personal information:

Email

Smilesmiths@dentalwize.com

Phone

021 201 3304

WhatsApp

+27 61 583 1552

Address

11 Van der Lingen Street, Esterville, Paarl, 7646, Western Cape

If you’re not satisfied with how we have handled your personal information, you can complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa.

Website

inforegulator.org.za

Email

enquiries@inforegulator.org.za

Phone

010 023 5200

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top of the page shows when it last changed.