What this policy covers
This policy explains how Summit Dental Care handles information collected through this website, summitdentalcareseattle.com. It covers the contact form, the pages you visit, and the third-party services embedded in the site.
It does not cover your dental records. Information you give us in the office, and everything we record about your care, is protected health information governed by HIPAA, by Washington’s health care information law, and by our HIPAA Consent and Notice of Privacy Practices (PDF). Those protections are separate from, and stronger than, this policy. Where the two ever appear to conflict about health information, the Notice of Privacy Practices governs.
Please don’t send health details through this website
The contact form sends an ordinary email. It is convenient, but it is not a secure or HIPAA-protected channel, and email can be intercepted or misdelivered.
Use the form to ask us to get in touch, request an appointment, or ask a general question.
Please don’t use it for detailed symptoms or medical history, insurance member or group numbers, your Social Security number, or anything else you would want kept confidential. Call us at (206) 292-9980 instead — we are happy to take those details over the phone or in the office.
For a medical emergency, call 911. We do not monitor the contact form continuously and cannot respond to urgent messages in real time.
Information you give us
The appointment form requires your name, email address, and phone number. A message is optional. Web3Forms receives these entries and delivers the request to our office email. The submission includes the full browser URL of the page you sent it from. Information you submit through the Weave Text Us widget is processed separately by Weave to support your conversation with the practice.
If you call or email us directly, we receive whatever you choose to include in that call or message.
This website has no accounts, no logins, and no patient portal — there is nothing to register for. It also does not take payments. The “Pay Online” link hands you off to a separate billing service, described below.
Information collected automatically
Like nearly every website, ours is served by a hosting provider that keeps standard server logs: IP address, browser and device type, the page requested, the referring page, and the date and time. These are used to keep the site online, diagnose problems, and detect abuse. They are not used to build a profile of you.
When enabled following the practice’s privacy review and your separate acceptance, we use Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4 to measure approved page visits and limited interactions: telephone-link activations, appointment-button activations, opening the Text Us launcher and, only where specifically approved, starting and completing an appointment request. A telephone-link activation does not tell us whether a call connected; an appointment-button activation does not mean a request was completed.
Analytics can process browser and device information, cookie identifiers, approximate geographic information, and approved event and page identifiers. Google receives network information, including your IP address, when requests reach its services. We send predefined page labels and clean page addresses; we exclude query strings, fragments, referring-page addresses and campaign or advertising identifiers supplied in URLs. We do not send form entries, text-message content, contact details, symptoms, insurance information or appointment details to analytics.
Analytics is disabled unless the practice has approved the pages, events and configuration. Patient portals, authenticated areas and pages that could disclose protected information are excluded. Appointment-related measurement needs specific privacy review; accepting analytics alone does not authorize it. We do not use session recordings or heatmaps.
On the approved West Edge and Referral marketing pages, optional analytics also measures tracked campaign landing-page views. We associate later approved pageviews and interactions in the same browser tab with the most recently visited campaign, using only the fixed campaign label and its landing-page path. Shared links, bookmarks and repeat visits can contribute to these counts; they do not identify QR scans or individual people. The Referral label identifies a marketing campaign, never a referring patient.
Cookies and tracking
Our compact analytics banner appears as soon as the page loads when this browser has no valid saved choice. Use Accept analytics or Reject analytics; ignoring the banner, scrolling or browsing does not accept analytics. Google Analytics and tag requests are blocked before acceptance and after rejection. Cookie Preferences in the footer opens the same banner immediately so you can change or withdraw your choice. Opening it does not change your saved preference. We do not replay earlier interactions after you accept.
We save only your analytics choice in local storage. If storage is unavailable, the choice lasts for the current page session. Following an eligible successful form submission, we use a single-use browser session marker, containing only a five-minute expiry, to prevent duplicate completion counts. It contains no patient data and is not sent to Google.
After analytics acceptance and practice approval, campaign attribution uses session storage in this browser tab. It contains only the campaign label, its landing-page path and a local activity timestamp. It expires after 30 minutes without permitted website activity and is cleared when you withdraw analytics consent. Visiting the other campaign page replaces it. The timestamp is not sent to Google. If session storage is unavailable, attribution lasts only in memory in the current document and may be lost on a reload or full page navigation. Visits made before acceptance are not attributed later.
Approved analytics may use first-party cookies such as _ga and _ga_* to distinguish browsers and sessions. Withdrawal stops future analytics requests and removes these analytics cookies where accessible to this site, without deleting unrelated cookies or form data. It does not erase data already sent to Google or cookies that the browser does not allow this site to access. You can also clear cookies and stored choices through your browser settings. Google Signals, advertising personalization, enhanced conversions and user-provided data collection remain off. User-ID, remarketing and advertising audiences are not configured.
These embedded services operate separately from your analytics choice:
- Google Maps — the map on our Contact page is an embedded frame served by Google. Loading it tells Google your IP address and may set Google’s own cookies.
- Google Fonts — the typeface used across the site is served by Google. It does not set cookies, but the request does reveal your IP address to Google.
- Weave Text Connect — the messaging widget loads on the website and receives browser and network information. When you use it, Weave also receives the contact details and messages you choose to provide.
Their providers’ privacy policies are linked below. Browser settings and content blockers can prevent these services from loading; if you block the map, the rest of the Contact page still works and our address and directions link are shown as text.
How we use your information
We use what you send us to:
- Respond to your message, and schedule or discuss an appointment if you asked for one
- Send you information or resources you requested
- Keep the website working and secure, diagnose problems, and prevent spam and abuse
- Measure approved website visits and interactions after analytics acceptance
- Meet our legal, regulatory, and professional obligations as a dental practice
We do not use your information for advertising, and we do not run automated decision-making or profiling of any kind.
Third-party services we use
These companies are involved in running this website. Each has its own privacy policy, and we do not control their practices.
- Web3Forms
- Delivers contact form submissions to our office email. It receives your submitted entries and passes them to us. Web3Forms privacy policy.
- DigitalOcean
- Hosts the website on App Platform, which uses Cloudflare’s content delivery network to serve its pages. Handles the server logs described above. DigitalOcean privacy policy.
- Google Maps and Google Fonts
- Provide embedded maps on our Contact and landing pages and the typeface used across the site. Google privacy policy.
- Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4
- Provide the optional, reviewed measurement described above. How Google uses information from sites that use its services.
- Weave Text Connect
- Provides the embedded Text Us messaging service. Weave processes the contact information and messages you submit through it. Weave privacy policy.
These services are linked from the site but are separate from it. Following them takes you off summitdentalcareseattle.com:
- Weave Bill Pay
- Our online payment portal at weavebillpay.com. Payments are handled entirely by Weave under its own terms and privacy policy. We never receive or store your card details through this website.
- Google Business Profile, Facebook, and Instagram
- Linked from our footer so you can find our reviews and posts. These are plain links, not embeds. Our separate Google services are described above; no Facebook or Instagram advertising pixels are installed on this website.
Washington consumer health data
Washington’s My Health My Data Act (chapter 19.373 RCW) gives Washington residents rights over “consumer health data.” Most of what we hold about our patients is health care information already governed by HIPAA and chapter 70.02 RCW, which the Act treats separately. This section describes health-related information collected through this website.
What we collect, and why
If you describe a dental concern in the contact form, that message — together with the name, email address, and phone number you submit with it — may be considered consumer health data, because it can link you to a request for dental care. Information you provide through Weave messaging may also contain health-related details. We receive that information from you, when you submit the form, use the widget or contact us. We use it for a single purpose: to respond to you and arrange the care you asked about.
This website does not collect precise location data, biometric or genetic data, or health data from any other source, and it does not infer health information from your browsing.
Who we share it with
Contact form submissions pass through Web3Forms, which transmits your message to our office email. Messages sent through Text Us are processed by Weave. We do not send consumer health data to Google Analytics, and we do not sell consumer health data to anyone.
Your rights
If you are a Washington resident, you have the right to:
- Confirm whether we collect, share, or sell your consumer health data
- Receive a list of the third parties with whom we have shared it
- Withdraw your consent to our collection and sharing of it
- Ask us to delete it, including asking us to direct any third party that received it to delete it as well
How to exercise them
Contact us using the details in the final section of this policy and tell us which right you want to exercise. We will respond within 45 days. If your request is complex we may take one additional 45 days, and we will tell you why before doing so.
If we deny your request, we will explain why and how to appeal. You may appeal by replying to our response or contacting us again in writing, and we will respond to the appeal within 45 days. If we deny the appeal, you may submit a complaint to the Washington State Attorney General at atg.wa.gov/file-complaint.
Deleting information does not always mean we can erase every trace of it. Where we are required by law or by professional records-retention rules to keep something — for example, once it has become part of your dental record — we will tell you and explain what we are keeping and why.
Your choices
- Choose whether to allow analytics. Use Cookie Preferences in the footer to accept, reject or withdraw your choice. You can use the website and contact the practice without accepting analytics. This choice does not opt you into messaging or advertising.
- Skip the form. You are welcome to call or email us instead. Nothing on this site requires you to submit anything.
- Ask us to delete a website inquiry. Contact us and we will delete it, unless it has become part of your dental record or we are required to keep it.
- Ask us to stop contacting you. Tell us and we will stop, other than communications we are required to send.
- Your dental records. To see, get a copy of, amend, or restrict your dental record, follow the process in our Notice of Privacy Practices — call the office and we will walk you through it. Those rights come from HIPAA and Washington law, and this policy does not limit them.
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
Some browsers send a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal. We do not use analytics for targeted advertising. Our analytics controls require an affirmative choice in the consent banner; these browser signals do not replace that choice or turn analytics on. You can reject analytics or withdraw acceptance using the footer control.
How long we keep information
Website inquiries stay in our office email for as long as we need them to respond and to keep a record of the conversation, and are then deleted in the ordinary course of managing our mail.
If you become a patient, the relevant information moves into your dental record, which we keep for the period Washington law requires of health care providers.
Server logs are retained by our hosting provider for a limited period and then rotated out.
Before analytics is activated, our required configuration is two months for Google Analytics user-level and event-level retention, with reset on new activity off. This setting limits detailed data retention; standard aggregated reports can remain available beyond two months. It does not set the lifetime of every cookie or delete information held by other providers. Your saved analytics choice remains in this browser until you change it or clear browser storage.
How we protect information
This site is served entirely over HTTPS, so traffic between your browser and the site is encrypted, and your form submission travels to us over an encrypted connection. Access to inquiries is limited to the members of our team who need it.
Once a submission arrives, though, it is ordinary email — which is exactly why we ask you not to send sensitive details through the form. No website or email system can be made perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee that information sent over the internet will never be intercepted.
Children’s privacy
This website is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them through it. We do treat children as patients, but we receive their information from a parent or guardian in the office rather than through this site. If you believe a child has submitted information here, contact us and we will delete it.
Links to other websites
We link to services and pages we do not operate, including our payment portal, our review and social profiles, and maps and directions. Once you follow one of those links, this policy no longer applies. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of any site you visit.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the website or the law changes. The effective date at the top will change with it, and we will note material changes on this page. Please check back if it has been a while.
How to reach us
Questions about this policy, or want to exercise any of the rights described above? Contact us:
Summit Dental Care
720 Olive Way, Suite 930
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 292-9980
[email protected]
For questions about your dental records or your HIPAA rights specifically, please call the office — that request is handled through the process in our Notice of Privacy Practices rather than through this website.
See also our Terms of Service.