Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Novasmile Dental Studios ("we", "us", or "our") is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website at novasmiledentalstudios.com or book an appointment with us.

This policy is compliant with the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 (NDPA) and the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR). By using our website or services, you consent to the practices described in this policy.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information you provide directly to us, including:

• Personal identification information: Full name, email address, phone number
• Appointment details: Preferred date, preferred time slot, and reason for visit
• Health information: Information you share with us about your dental or medical history during consultations
• Communications: Messages or enquiries you send us via our contact form or email

We may also collect certain information automatically when you visit our website, including your IP address, browser type, pages visited, and time spent on our site.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Process and confirm your appointment bookings
• Send you appointment confirmation and reminder communications
• Respond to your enquiries and provide customer support
• Improve our website and services
• Maintain records required for dental practice management
• Comply with legal and regulatory obligations
• Send you relevant updates about our services, where you have given consent

We will never sell your personal information to third parties or use it for purposes unrelated to providing our dental services.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, we process your personal data on the following legal bases:

• Consent: Where you have given us clear consent to process your data for a specific purpose
• Contract: Where processing is necessary to fulfil an appointment or service you have requested
• Legal obligation: Where we are required to process your data to comply with applicable laws
• Legitimate interests: Where processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests

5. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share your information with:

• Service providers: Third party tools that help us operate our website and manage bookings, such as Google (for booking data storage via Google Sheets and Google Apps Script)
• Legal authorities: Where required by law, regulation, or court order
• Professional advisors: Such as lawyers or accountants, where necessary

Any third parties we work with are required to handle your data securely and only for the purposes we specify.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this policy, or as required by law. Specifically:

• Appointment booking data is retained for a minimum of 5 years in line with dental practice record-keeping requirements
• Website enquiry data is retained for up to 2 years
• You may request deletion of your data at any time by contacting us, subject to our legal obligations

7. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include secure data storage, limited access controls, and regular security reviews.

However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

8. Your Rights

Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right to access: You may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Right to rectification: You may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to erasure: You may request deletion of your personal data, subject to legal requirements
• Right to restrict processing: You may request that we limit how we use your data
• Right to data portability: You may request a copy of your data in a portable format
• Right to object: You may object to our processing of your data in certain circumstances
• Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in the Contact Us section below.

9. Cookies

Our website may use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience. Cookies are small files stored on your device that help us understand how visitors use our site.

We use cookies for:

• Essential website functionality
• Analysing website traffic and usage patterns
• Remembering your preferences

You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of some parts of our website.

10. Third Party Services

Our website uses the following third party services which may collect data independently:

• Google Fonts: Used to display typography on our website
• Google Apps Script and Google Sheets: Used to process and store appointment booking data
• Firebase (Google): Used to power our blog content management system
• Vercel: Our website hosting provider, which may log access data

We recommend reviewing the privacy policies of these third party services for more information on how they handle data.

11. Children's Privacy

Our website is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children without parental consent. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will take steps to delete such information.

For patients under 18, we require parental or guardian consent before providing dental treatment.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. We will notify you of any significant changes by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact us:

• Address: Adenekan Mega Plaza, 1 Adenekan Street, College Bus-stop, Okota, Lagos
• Phone: 07075645166
• Email: info@novasmiledentalstudios.com

We will respond to all requests within 30 days in accordance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.