Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how Roots Pediatric Dentistry (“Roots,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, and discloses personal information when you visit rootspedsdentistry.com (the “Site”). It also serves as our Notice at Collection and California Privacy Notice under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (together, the “CCPA”).

Protected health information. Medical and dental records, appointment details, insurance information, and other protected health information (PHI) that we collect as a healthcare provider are governed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and our Notice of Privacy Practices, which is available at our office. The CCPA does not apply to PHI covered by HIPAA. This Privacy Policy covers information collected through the Site only.

We collect the following categories of personal information through the Site:

• Identifiers and contact information that you choose to provide, such as your name, email address, and phone number when you contact us by email, phone, or through the live chat widget.
• Internet or network activity collected automatically, such as your IP address, browser type, device type, pages viewed, referring website, and interactions with the Site, collected through cookies and similar technologies.
• Communications, including the content of messages you send us through the live chat widget or by email.
• Preferences you set on the Site, such as your privacy choices and accessibility settings, which are stored on your device.

We do not collect precise geolocation, biometric information, or financial account numbers through the Site. Online appointment booking is handled by a third-party scheduling service that opens in a new window and is subject to that provider's own privacy policy.

• To respond to your questions and appointment requests.
• To operate, maintain, secure, and improve the Site.
• To remember your preferences, including privacy and accessibility settings.
• To detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents.
• To comply with legal obligations and enforce our policies.

We do not use personal information collected through the Site for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

We may disclose personal information to the following categories of recipients:

• Service providers that help us operate the Site, such as our website hosting provider, live chat provider, and map provider. These providers are permitted to use personal information only to provide services to us.
• Legal and safety recipients when required by law, subpoena, or legal process, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our practice, our patients, or others.
• Successors in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or part of our practice.

We do not sell personal information for money. However, some third-party technologies on the Site (such as the live chat widget) may collect identifiers or internet activity in a way that could be considered a “sale” or “sharing” under California law. You can opt out of this at any time as described in Section 7.

The Site uses the following types of cookies and local storage:

• Strictly necessary: used to remember your privacy choices and accessibility settings. These cannot be turned off because the Site needs them to honor your preferences.
• Functional (third-party): set by our live chat provider (Tidio) to keep chat sessions working and by Google Maps to display our office location. These are disabled when you opt out.

We do not currently use advertising cookies or analytics trackers. You can also control cookies through your browser settings; however, disabling strictly necessary cookies may prevent the Site from remembering your choices.

If you are a California resident, you have the following rights with respect to personal information covered by the CCPA:

• Right to know what personal information we collect, use, disclose, sell, or share, and to access a copy of it.
• Right to delete personal information we have collected from you, subject to legal exceptions.
• Right to correct inaccurate personal information.
• Right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information.
• Right to limit the use and disclosure of sensitive personal information. We do not use sensitive personal information collected through the Site for purposes that would trigger this right.
• Right to non-discrimination for exercising any of these rights.

How to exercise your rights. You may submit a request by emailing info@rootspedsdentistry.com with the subject line “California Privacy Request,” or by calling (310) 620-8181. We will verify your identity by matching the information you provide with information we already hold. We will respond within 45 days and may extend that period by an additional 45 days when reasonably necessary, in which case we will notify you.

Authorized agents. You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. We may require the agent to provide proof of your written authorization and may ask you to verify your identity directly with us.

Retention. We retain personal information collected through the Site only as long as needed for the purposes described above, to comply with legal obligations, and to resolve disputes. Chat transcripts are retained according to our live chat provider's settings and our record-keeping policies.

Shine the Light. California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits residents to request information about disclosures of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes.

You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information by using the privacy preferences tool on this Site. When you opt out, we disable optional third-party technologies on the Site and store your choice on your device for 12 months. You will need to opt out separately on each browser and device you use.

Global Privacy Control. We honor opt-out preference signals such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC). If your browser or extension sends a GPC signal, we treat it as a valid request to opt out of sale and sharing for that browser, and no further action is required.

You can also submit an opt-out request by email or phone using the contact details in Section 10, or visit our Do Not Sell or Share page for more information.

Although our practice provides dental care to children, the Site is intended for use by parents and guardians. We do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent, and we do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information through the Site, please contact us and we will delete it.

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information. No method of transmission over the Internet is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. Please do not send sensitive medical information through the live chat widget or by email; call our office instead.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The effective date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised. Material changes will be posted on this page.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or want to exercise your privacy rights, contact us:

See also our Accessibility Statement.