This Privacy Policy applies to both Paragon International, Inc., along with the StarSmilez trademark and websites (referred to in this document, as well as in all our policies, terms and conditions, as “StarSmilez” “we” “our” or “us”). This Privacy Policy describes the information we collect about you and your use of our websites, communities, and applications (as a group “Websites”) and how we use that information and how we protect your privacy. This includes the information and services available to you through our Websites are also referred to in or policies as “Services”.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. StarSmilez policies, including this Privacy Policy, are updated from time to time, so please reread it periodically. If you do not accept the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not register with us and we ask that you do not use our Websites. Please exit our Websites immediately if you do not agree to our Terms and Conditions and this Privacy Policy.
If you do not want us to collect, or use, information collected about you and your use of our Websites as described here, then you should not use the Services. By using our Services and Websites, you agree to this Privacy Policy and our Terms and Conditions, which serves as the contract between you and us. You confirm that you have read and understand this Privacy Policy including our Cookie Policy and you recognize that we store, use, and process this information in the United States where we are located.
The information collected under this Privacy Policy is always protected under the terms of this Privacy Policy. Except as otherwise noted within this agreement, StarSmilez is the data controller responsible for the processing of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy and we will not sell or rent information about you to third parties. All companies that StarSmilez owns or controls are recognized by you as part of StarSmilez and thus are part of this agreement.
Information We Collect
In some cases, our Services may store your information in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Even if you do not register with us, we collect information about your use of our Websites and may acquire information about users from external sources.
When you use our Services, we collect information as follows:
Registration
While some of our Services are available without registering, others do require that you register with us. If you choose to register you may be required to provide your information, such as name, address, telephone number, gender, email address, professional specialty, and a username and password to access your StarSmilez account. You are responsible for providing accurate personal information to StarSmilez. Clinicians registering on our Website are asked to provide their NPI number. By providing an NPI number you understand that your registration will be displayed in our public search results to help site users find the profiles that you may have created.
Email Newsletters
During your use of our Services, you may provide us with personal information in order to receive our newsletters via email.
Awards, Reviews, Emails sent to Friends
If you use our messaging service to send an award or review to a friend, we may use your name and email address as a reference so your friend may have a better understanding of the context of the message. We may also send your message to your friend, showing your email address as the sender. You will supply your friend’s name and email address and we will automatically send your friend a one-time message, notifying him or her to view their award and/or review by visiting StarSmilez. We will not use your friend’s email information for any other purpose. We will only use the information you provide to send the requested message to your friend.
If you believe that one of your contacts has provided us with your personal information and you would like to request removal from our database, please use the Contact Us link provided in the footer of our Website.
User Reviews, StarSmilez Message Boards, and Other Public Forums
With your use of our community and profiles, including practice listings, users may submit provider reviews. StarSmilez may also feature community member profiles, message board areas and other public forums where users can post reviews, awards, share information and support one another. Our reviews and awards are open to the public and should not be considered private.
Any information (including personal information) you share in any review, online message board, or other forum also open to the public. Be thoughtful before posting any personal information in any public forum. What you post can be seen and collected by third parties visiting our Website and could be used by others in ways we cannot control or anticipate, including contacting you for unauthorized purposes. As with any public forum on any site, the information you post may also show up in third-party search engines.
If you mistakenly post personal information on our Website and are unable to remove it, you can contact us to request our assistance by using the Contact Us link in the footer of our Website. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information.
Emails You Send to StarSmilez
This Privacy Policy does not apply to information, content, business information, ideas, concepts or inventions that you send to StarSmilez by email. If you want to keep content or business information, ideas, concepts or inventions private or proprietary, do not send them in an email to us.
Services and Device Information
When you use our Services, StarSmilez collects and stores information from your browser or mobile device such as your IP address or unique device identifier, browser information, your preferences and settings, cookies and information about content you viewed and actions taken such as searches, queries, and clicks. When enabled by you, we may collect location information provided by your device, which you may disable in your device settings.
Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
We use cookies to collect information about your use of our Websites. “Cookies” are small data files assigned to your browser when you visit a website that enable recognition of your browser and collect and store information about your use of our Services. The information collected by tracking technologies may be combined with other information, including your name, email address and physical address, so that we can send you materials, either electronically or by direct mail, that may be of interest to you.
For more information about our use of cookies, please read our Cookie Policy.
How We Use Information
Information about your use of the Services can be used for the following purposes:
- to provide, improve and create Services you and other Website users request,
- to respond to your inquiries and to send you messages related to our Websites and Services,
- to get your feedback about our Websites and Services,
- to send you messages relevant to your interests inferred from your use of our Websites,
- to analyze trends, behaviors and activities including areas frequented, and Services used,
- to help us provide you with relevant content,
- to promote our Websites, we reserve the right to use any questions, comments, photos, or other information posted by users on our Websites, in electronic and print materials, magazines, commentaries, in research, as well as other methods of publishing content where users may be identified by their username.
- to offer lead generation services,
- to detect and defend against fraud and other threats to our Services and to our users,
- to identify deficiencies with our Services,
- to conduct research and measurement activities, including those described below, and
- to manage your account on our Website.
How Your Information is Stored
We may store information you submit through our Websites and your information may be stored and processed by us in the United States, Europe, or in another country as determined by us. We take reasonable security measures to protect your personal information, but there is always some risk that an unauthorized third party may find a way around our security systems or that transmission of your data over the Internet may be intercepted.
The security of your personal information is important to us. When you submit your personal information, we encrypt the transmission of that information or use SSL technology. We will retain your personal information while your account is active or as needed to provide you Services. At any time, you can remove your personal information or instruct us to remove it, but you should be aware that it may not be technically possible to remove all record of the information you have provided to StarSmilez from our servers. We will also retain your personal information as needed to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements.
We may also include social widgets on the StarSmilez Sites which enable you to interact with the associated social media services and these widgets may collect browsing data. It is your responsibility to manage your privacy preferences with any third-party social network platforms. We are not responsible for the privacy policies, procedures, or practices of any third-party websites
How your Information is Shared
Any Personal Information you elect to make public on our Websites, will be available to others on our Websites. If you remove information that was public, copies may remain viewable in archived pages or users may have copied or saved that information.
Compliance with Laws, Regulations, and Law Enforcement Requests
We will not share your Personal Information with third parties except under critical circumstances outlined below. In order to cooperate with law enforcement, government officials, and others charged with enforcing laws, we may release personal information to third parties: 1) to comply with legal requirements or court orders; 2) when in good faith, we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate or prevent fraud, comply with a government request; or 3) to protect property or assert our legal rights.
Children
StarSmilez policy is that our Websites may be used only by users who are over the age of 18. We do not intentionally collect any information from children or users that we have reason to believe are under the age of 18. If a parent or guardian learns that a child has submitted Personal Information to our Websites, the parent should contact us by using the Contact Us link provided in the footer of the StarSmilez Websites and that information will be deleted.
A parent or guardian, however, may use StarSmilez Websites to source educational content for a minor. The parent or guardian is solely responsible for the supervision of the minor’s use of StarSmilez content and takes full responsibility for ensuring that their registration information is kept secure. The parent or guardian also assumes full responsibility for the use of any information.
Updating/Removing Your Personal Information
If you do not want your personal information used by us as stated in this Privacy Policy, you should not use our Websites or Services. You can correct, update or review your personal information you have submitted by logging in and going to your Community Member Profiles. There you can make the desired changes or in some cases you may be required to submit your changes to us for revision.
Once we receive your request, we will delete your profile information from our active databases and where possible from our back-up systems. You should be aware that in some cases it is not possible to remove every record of the information you have provided to us from our servers.
When you sign up on our Websites you may opt out of receiving additional email communication from StarSmilez which includes our email newsletters. You can unsubscribe from our email newsletter by following the directions included at the bottom of the newsletter by using the “Unsubscribe” link found in those emails.
For Users Outside of the United States
StarSmilez and our information technology infrastructure is based in the United States. The personal information that you provide to us is stored on servers located in the United States. If you are in another jurisdiction, be aware that, we must transfer your personal information to our infrastructure where it will be stored according to our Privacy Policy. We may transfer your information outside the United States to service providers with operations in other countries. By using our Websites, you agree to the collection, storage, and processing in the United States and elsewhere, even though the United States and other countries may not provide the same level of data protection that is required in your own country. We will take reasonable steps to protect your information.
Additional Information for Users and Visitors from the European Economic Area (“EEA”)
When you use our Websites and Services, we collect, store, use and process your personal information as stated in this Privacy Policy. When needed we rely on several guidelines to handle your information, including:
- for our ongoing commitment to providing and improving the Websites and Services;
- to keep the Websites, and Services safe and secure;
- for the support of our service providers;
- to perform our obligations per our Privacy Policy as well as Terms and Conditions;
- you agree to the storage and management of your information, which you can revoke at any time, although this doesn’t impact your personal data processed before your date of your request;
- you may have made some information public, such as on our message board, award system, or on a public profile page;
- to comply with legal obligations from a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena, or court order or to defend legal claims; and
- to protect the privacy for you and others.
If you are a StarSmilez user in the EEA, you can:
- request personal information we have about you and we will try to accommodate your request within 30 days;
- have your personal information corrected or deleted;
- withdraw your consent and we will discontinue further processing of your personal information;
- request assistance by contacting us and we will respond within a reasonable timeframe.
If you have registered with StarSmilez and you no longer want us to use your registration information to provide the Services to you, you may close your account. We will retain your personal information to provide Services to you and fulfill meet the terms in this Privacy Policy before removing your information from our system. Once there is no need for us to keep your information to meet legal and regulatory obligations, your personal information will be removed or de-identified in our system.
You can send us an email using the Contact Us link in the footer of the Website if you have any questions about our policies or the information, we maintain about you. We will respond within a reasonable timeframe.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy and any of our Services at any time and any changes will be effective upon being posted unless we advise you otherwise. If we make any material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you by means of a notice on our Websites and/or by email to registered users before the change become effective. By continuing to use our Services after changes are made to this Privacy Policy, you agree to such changes. We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy for the latest information on our privacy practices. If you do not accept the terms of this Privacy Policy, do not register with us and do not use our Websites. Please exit our Websites immediately if you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.
StarSmilez Cookie Policy
This Cookie Policy explains when and why cookies and similar tracking technologies are used by us, and our Websites.
Cookies
“Cookies” are small data files that are stored on the hard drive of the computer you use to view a website. Every computer that accesses our Website is assigned a different cookie that may server several purposes:
Session cookies are specific to each Website visit and carry information as you view different pages within our Website. Session cookies expire and delete themselves automatically in a short period of time, like at the end of your browser session.
Persistent cookies enable us to recognize you when you visit our Website and remember your preferences. Persistent cookies are stored on your browser or mobile device until you choose to delete them and may delete themselves at expiration.
Third-party cookies are placed by someone other than us and may gather browsing activity across multiple websites and sessions. They are usually persistent cookies and are stored until you delete them, or they may expire based on the time period set in the third-party cookie.
Cookies on the StarSmilez Websites
The cookies on the StarSmilez Sites are generally used for one of the following purposes:
Essential functionality. Are essential to access some areas of our Websites. For example, those used to identify registered members and ensure that they have access to content that is only available to registered members.
Important functionality. Enable us to remember your preferences, such as your username, language or the region you are in, and provide a more personalized experience.
Performance and Analytics. Which are cookies that enable us to analyze how visitors use our Websites and to monitor and improve site performance and Services.
We use cookies and other tracking technologies to recognize individual users when they access the Services, remember user preferences, keep track of users’ access to and use of the Services, track whether our emails opened and whether links are clicked, ensure that the Services are functioning properly, analyze trends and to personalize the Services. When you use the Services, we also automatically collect information from your browser or mobile device such as your IP address or unique device identifier, browser information (which may include referring URL), your preferences and settings, cookies and information about the content you have viewed and actions taken (e.g., search queries, clicks, and the associated dates and times). When enabled by you, we collect precise location information provided by your mobile device, which you may disable through the device settings.
Your Decisions
If you reject our cookies, certain of the functions of our Websites may not work properly.
Changes
We reserve the right to change this Cookie Policy at any time and all changes will be effective upon being posted unless we advise otherwise. We encourage you to periodically review this Cookie Policy for the latest information about the use of cookies on our Websites.
Editorial Policies
Integrity of Content
We strive to bring you accurate, objective, and innovative educational content and health information in order to be a practical and relevant source of health information.
Rather than filtering content for specific use cases or opinions, we post broad content from a variety of viewpoints, so it is up to you to choose the information that is most appropriate for you. The editorial information we post is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek advice from a dentist, physician, or qualified health provider to address any questions you might have about your medical condition and never disregard professional medical opinions or postpone seeking professional care based on something you have read on our Websites.
Following are our content policies and procedures:
Original Content Created and Published on StarSmilez
We create, collaborate, and post content based on these general guidelines:
Practicality: Knowledge of oral health practices and procedures although well known, benefits from an ongoing refresh of content, structure, and messaging to remain current, memorable, and interesting.
Clinical Relevance: Occasionally new medical and cognitive findings are published that are important to advancements in oral health. These are sometimes found in peer reviewed journals and other times simply published by individuals that have made interesting discoveries and observations through their training and experiences.
Trends: Topics and perspectives may range from philosophies about why we do things a certain way to seasonal and generational views, emerging health trends such as fitness, disease prevention, healthy habits, and alternative approaches to treatments and motivation, education, and cognition.
How our Content Is Unique
Our materials are based on our editors’ selections and feedback we receive from our users and registered community members. They sometimes contain interviews with experts who can put things into a better context of what the real-world applications can be to new information.
Editorial Staff Commitment to Authenticity and Excellence
Our content is free from the influence of advertisers and other sources as everyone who participates in an editorial capacity must fully disclose any potential conflict of interest. Our editorial staff is charged with providing objective, accurate, and insightful accounts of issues and events where we seek out subjects for stories and source experts to provide perspective and commentary.
Original Content Process
The content that we produce and feature is determined by our staff, journalists, and health professionals that are all committed to enhancing knowledge and learning related to children’s health. We engage with reliable experienced sources from healthcare and education to understand the latest health trends and provide analyses, updates, and profiles that embody a deep multidisciplinary perspective.
We may partner with third parties, who may provide resources to us for the creation of original editorial content for our Websites. Third parties may work with us to identify mutually agreed upon topics, where the content will always be produced in accordance with our Editorial Policies and the third party will have no control over the content. Third parties may receive attribution that will appear as “Support provided by [third party]” where they support our content for periods of time. Each story is reviewed by our editors, before publication, for accuracy, language, and reasonable characterization of the base content. Editorial reviews also focus on style, flow, and readability.
Licensed and Third Party Content
When we use content from third parties on our Website, the same standards must be met, including conformance to our Editorial Policies.
Educational Collaborations
We work with health charities, not for profits, educators, governments, health professionals, and other associations whose primary mission is to educate children and the public about oral health topics or issues.
We follow a specific workflow when working with these groups to create or select content for specific topic areas. The content is created by us, reviewed and edited by Educational Collaborators, and then edited and approved by our editorial team. This content is created and conforms with our Editorial Policies.
Where collaborative works are produced and published, we include attribution to our collaborators and may link to individual and company collaborator’s profile and office pages on our Websites.