Your dentist or dental practice is typically the health information custodian for personal health information used to provide your dental care.

Clinic staff acting for that practice are generally agents of the custodian when performing their duties.

SmileKonnect provides electronic tools that enable custodians and authorized users to collect, use, retain, and communicate personal health information digitally. Where the platform is used by more than one health information custodian to exchange personal health information with one another, additional Ontario rules for electronic service providers or health information network providers may apply.

Signed-in access with role-based permissions, and encryption of many sensitive fields stored in the system.

Consent steps for certain messaging and file-sharing activities, and electronic signature disclosures in document workflows.

Audit logging of relevant activities for authorized clinic review, and directing many clinical documents to secure portal access rather than email attachments.

This notice describes SmileKonnect’s relationship to PHIPA and the privacy supports built into the platform. Operational details such as hosting locations, third-party services used in production, and how a particular clinic responds to privacy incidents are addressed in the Privacy Policy and through the clinic’s own privacy practices.

Deletion of personal information is handled through a review process with the dental team and remains subject to legal and professional retention requirements. See the Data Deletion Request page and Privacy Policy for details.

Subject to the Act, individuals may request access to and correction of their personal health information, and may raise concerns about privacy practices. Health information custodians remain responsible for responding to access and correction requests for records in their custody or control.

Dentists and clinics using SmileKonnect remain responsible for meeting their obligations under PHIPA and the standards of the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario. Individual dentists hold certificates of registration with the College; those professional duties continue when care is coordinated through digital tools.