Privacy Policy

This is the Privacy Policy of Dentistry for Chickens Limited (called we, us or our below). This Privacy Policy tells you how we collect, use, share and protect your personal information including health information. It applies to you (called you or your below) when you visit our practice, receive dental treatment, use our website, interact with us through our social media, apply for a job with us, provide information to us, or purchase our products or services. By providing your personal information to us, you acknowledge and agree that we will collect, use, process and share your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

We are committed to complying with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 and the Health Information Privacy Code 2020.

What is personal information?

Personal information is information that can be used to identify a person. This may include:

Personal identification information: your name, contact details, emergency contact information;
Health information: Medical and dental history, dental treatment records, medications, referrals, and any other information relevant to your dental care, where we use an AI clinical scribe, this includes the audio recording, transcript and AI-generated draft note of your consultation;
Financial information: payment and billing information, health insurance and ACC details, credit checks;
Website, communications and marketing data: contact form submissions and appointment bookings, email correspondence, website usage data, IP address, and recordings, transcripts, summaries and sentiment information generated from your phone calls with us;
Employment information: information provided by your referees, pre-employment testing, profiling testing;

Your obligations when giving us personal information

Please provide accurate and current information. For patients under 16 years old, information should be provided by a parent or legal guardian. If you provide information about someone else (such as family medical history), you must have their consent to share their personal information with us and they must have agreed to this Privacy Policy.

Where we collect your information from

Where possible we collect your personal information directly from you, such as when you contact us via email, phone, our website or social media, in-person consultations, post content, schedule an appointment, fill out forms, complete a survey, or order products or services from us.

The Health Information Privacy Code 2020 and the Privacy Act 2020 were amended to introduce a new indirect-collection rule (Rule 3A of the Code, and Information Privacy Principle 3A of the Act), which requires us to take reasonable steps to notify you when we collect personal or health information about you indirectly - that is, from a source other than you personally, or where it is generated about you rather than provided by you. In providing your care we sometimes receive or generate information about you in this way, such as:

ACC your health insurer
businesses or people that work with us,
a health professional who has treated or referred you or is otherwise involved in your healthcare
your family , legal guardian or caregiver
other sources where necessary to provide our products or services
publicly available information, or
other people you have authorised us to collect information from.
information generated about you by the AI and digital tools we use - including the draft clinical notes and transcripts produced by our AI clinical scribe, and the recordings, transcripts, summaries and sentiment information produced by our AI telephone system (see "Artificial intelligence (AI) tools we use" below).

We may also collect information while you use our website or service using technology like cookies, in accordance with the section below. When we collect information about you indirectly, we will take reasonable steps to make you aware of it, including its source and purpose, who we may share it with, and your rights to access and correct it. Where that is not practicable, such as in an emergency, we will tell you as soon as reasonably practicable afterwards.

Notification may not be required where it would endanger anyone's safety, where the information was used in an emergency to protect your health, where it is not reasonably practicable, or where an exception applies under the Privacy Act 2020 or the Health Information Privacy Code 2020. Indirectly collected information is treated with the same care as information you provide directly, and you have the same rights to access and correct it.

We also use video surveillance systems in key thoroughfares at our premises.

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools we use

We use an AI clinical scribe to help document your consultations. When your practitioner activates it, it records the consultation audio, transcribes it, and produces a draft note that your practitioner reviews and approves before it is added to your record. The audio is deleted immediately after transcription, and the information is used only to prepare your clinical documentation - not for AI training, marketing or profiling. Transcripts and draft notes held within the scribe platform are deleted after a short retention period; the approved note is then kept in your clinical record under our usual health-records retention rules.

Use of the scribe is optional. You may decline consent to use it, or ask for it to be paused or turned off at any time, without affecting your care. For patients under 16, consent is obtained from a parent or guardian.

We also use an AI-enhanced telephone system to handle calls to and from our practice. Inbound and outbound calls are recorded, and our AI generates a transcript, summary and sentiment score for each call. AI-generated outputs can contain errors and are not relied on alone for decisions about your care. We will tell you the call is being recorded and AI-processed.

Some inbound calls may be handled by an AI receptionist or AI answering service, which identify themselves as AI and can answer questions, take your details and book appointments.

We may adopt other AI or digital tools from time to time to support your care and the running of our practice. Whenever we do, we will handle your information in accordance with this policy, the Privacy Act 2020 and the Health Information Privacy Code 2020.

Cookies and other tracking technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to monitor your activity on our website and store certain information. Cookies are small data files placed on your device that enable us to enhance and personalise your online experience, understand website usage, and improve our services. The cookies we use may include: essential cookies necessary for the functioning of the website; performance cookies to monitor site usage; functional cookies that remember your preferences; and targeting or advertising cookies to deliver personalised content and advertisements.

You can manage your preferences at any time to withdraw your consent to our use of cookies by either accessing the cookie settings on our website or directly through your web browser. For more information on how to manage and delete cookies, visit https://www.aboutcookies.org/ or www.allaboutcookies.org. Withdrawing your consent may impact your user experience and prevent you from using certain parts of our website. Essential cookies, necessary for the operation of the website, cannot be rejected as they are required for website security and accessibility.

Why we collect your information

We may collect your information for the following purposes:

to gain an understanding of your needs so we may provide you with the required service and advice
to provide and administer our products or services to you
to communicate with you including responding to questions from you
to improve your personal experience on our website
to perform analytics and conduct research
to get feedback to improve our products or services
to collect any money you owe us
to handle complaints, claims and disputes
to comply with our legal and contractual obligations or enforce our legal rights
to promote our products or services to you and provide other information we think you may find interesting (including information promoting our business partners)
to protect you from anyone else pretending to be you,
to send you appointment reminders,
for any other purposes expressly authorised by you in writing,
to refer you to specialists or other healthcare providers
to respond to ACC claims and other insurance-related matters
to handle, record and follow up on your telephone calls with us
to carry out quality assurance, staff training and performance management, and business performance analysis
video footage from surveillance systems is collected for the purposes of monitoring and ensuring the safety and security of our property, staff, patients and visitors, or
any purpose for which we are required or authorised by applicable laws.

Using your information

We will only use your personal information for the purposes we collected it. If we don’t need your personal information any more, we will stop using it and, subject to our legal obligation to retain medical records for a certain period, delete it from our systems securely. Call recordings and AI-derived call data are kept only for as long as necessary for these purposes.

Who we share your information with

We will not sell, distribute, rent, licence, disclose or reveal, share or pass your personal information or health information on to any third parties, other than in accordance with this Policy, or you have otherwise given us your permission to do so.

We may share your personal information, including health information, with others where necessary for your dental care or for the purposes specified above. Any sharing will comply with the Privacy Act 2020 and the Health Information Privacy Code 2020. This may include:

any business that helps us or works with us to provide our products or services or operate our business (for example, consultants, contractors, distributors, suppliers, service providers, technology providers, cloud-providers, or professional advisors). These providers are required to maintain the confidentiality and security of your information.
the providers of our AI clinical documentation and AI telephone tools, and their sub-processors, who process your information only to provide those services to us and on a confidential basis
to other health service providers in relation to continuity of care where that service provider is involved in your treatment or diagnostic services
when conveying information to a responsible person (e.g. parent, guardian, spouse) when you are a minor, or incapable or cannot communicate, unless you have requested otherwise
to ACC or your health insurer in relation to the processing of claims and entitlements
another group company
credit check or debt collection agencies
any other person as required or authorised by law
in connection with, or during negotiations of, any sale of our assets or all or a portion of our business, or anyone else, as explicitly authorised by you in writing.

Transfer of information to other countries

We might transfer to, and store or process your personal information in, countries outside New Zealand, including Australia. Some of our service providers, including providers of AI and other digital tools, may store or process your information (or de-identified information derived from it) on servers located overseas, and the laws of those countries may not provide the same level of data protection as New Zealand. We take reasonable steps to ensure any such recipient protects your information to a standard comparable to New Zealand law.

We only disclose your information outside New Zealand where permitted under the Privacy Act 2020 and Health Information Privacy Code 2020.

How we keep your information safe and secure

We have put in place industry standard suitable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to keep personal information safe and secure and protect it from misuse, interference, loss, or unauthorised access, modification, and disclosure. However, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us or receive from us over the internet.

How you can access and correct your information

You can ask us to show you what personal information we hold about you, and to correct any mistakes, by emailing reception@dentistryforchickens.co.nz. We will respond as soon as reasonably practicable and no later than as required by the Health Information Privacy Code 2020. If there is a legal reason we can’t let you see the information, or if we don’t agree with your correction, we will give you our reasons and note your requested correction to the information.

Direct Marketing

We may contact you by telephone, regular mail, or electronically (email, SMS or via other electronic means) for:

healthcare-related communications including appointment reminders, treatment follow-ups, and important health information; and
marketing communications including promotional material and offers of products or services from us, our related companies, as well as offers from our business partners that we consider may be relevant and of interest to you. You may opt out of receiving marketing communications while continuing to receive important healthcare-related communications. You can unsubscribe from receiving marketing communications at any time by emailing us at admin@dentistryforchickens.co.nz or using the opt-out function provided with the message.

How to make a privacy complaint

If you think we have not followed our privacy obligations, you can make a complaint by contacting us at admin@dentistryforchickens.co.nz. You can also make a complaint to the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner by emailing enquiries@privacy.org.nz.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy at any time. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on our website and, where appropriate, sending an email notification to the email address we have on file for you. Your use of our services after such notification constitutes acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions about this policy, please contact us at reception@dentistryforchickens.co.nz.

Effective date of policy: 1 July 2026