Privacy Policy

Minatomachi Dental Clinic (“we”, “us” or “the clinic”) regards the appropriate protection of the personal information of our patients and of everyone who uses our website (“this site”) as a social responsibility. We comply with the Act on the Protection of Personal Information of Japan and related guidelines, and we establish this privacy policy (“this Policy”) as set out below.

Article 1 (What personal information is)

• “Personal information” means personal information as defined in the Act on the Protection of Personal Information: information about a living individual that can identify that individual by name, date of birth, address, telephone number, contact details, health insurance card number, details of treatment, medical history or other descriptions (including information that can be readily cross-referenced with other information and thereby identify a specific individual).
• Personal information requiring special care, such as medical history and details of treatment, is handled with particular caution.

Article 2 (Collection of personal information)

• We collect, by lawful and fair means, your name, date of birth, address, telephone number, email address, health insurance information, information necessary for treatment and similar information, at the time of reception, appointment booking, enquiries and the like.
• When you use this site, we may collect your IP address, cookie information, browsing history, details of your device environment and similar information in order to understand how the site is used (please see Article 8).

Article 3 (Purposes of use)

We use the personal information we collect within the scope of the following purposes.

• (1) Providing dental care and health services to patients
• (2) Receiving and changing appointments, and contacting you about them
• (3) Claiming medical fees (insurance claim processing) and submitting claims to review and payment organisations
• (4) Obtaining and using insurance eligibility and medical information through online eligibility verification
• (5) Cooperating with other medical institutions, pharmacies, nursing care and welfare service providers, and responding to referrals and enquiries
• (6) Providing information to subcontractors where part of our work, such as dental technical work or testing, is outsourced
• (7) Providing information about, and carrying out, home-visit dental care
• (8) Responding to enquiries and appointment requests made through this site, and sending you notices and communications from the clinic
• (9) Improving the quality of care and managing medical safety within the clinic
• (10) Responding to matters required by laws and regulations
• (11) Purposes incidental to the above

Where we need to use personal information beyond the scope necessary to achieve the purposes above, we will obtain your consent in advance.

Article 4 (Provision to third parties)

• We do not provide personal information to third parties without obtaining your prior consent, except in the following cases.
  • (1) Where required by laws or regulations
  • (2) Where it is necessary to protect a person’s life, body or property and it is difficult to obtain your consent
  • (3) Where it is particularly necessary to improve public health or promote the sound growth of children and it is difficult to obtain your consent
  • (4) Where it is necessary to cooperate with a national or local government body, or a party commissioned by such a body, in carrying out duties prescribed by law, and obtaining your consent is likely to impede the performance of those duties
• Cooperation with other medical institutions and provision to subcontractors are announced in advance as purposes of use, for example by notices posted within the clinic, and such provision can be stopped at your request.

Article 5 (Security management)

We take necessary and appropriate measures to prevent the leakage, loss or damage of the personal information we handle, and otherwise to manage it securely. We also provide necessary and appropriate supervision of the staff who handle personal information.

Article 6 (The online appointment request form)

• Through the “Appointment Request” form on our website, we collect your name, name in katakana, telephone number, email address, whether this is a first or returning visit, your patient ID number, the reason for your visit (which includes information about symptoms such as whether you are in pain), your preferred dates and times, your preferred contact method, and anything else you write in the form. We do so for the purpose of arranging the date and time of your appointment.
• Submitting the form does not confirm an appointment. We will contact you and confirm the date and time with you.
• The information collected is recorded and stored on services provided by Google LLC (Google Sheets and Gmail). We manage it appropriately, including by limiting access to those staff who need it.
• Because the reason for your visit includes information about symptoms, we handle it in the same manner as clinical records. Completing the form is entirely optional, and you are also welcome to make an appointment by telephone on 06-6567-2152.
• We use the information collected through the form to arrange appointments and to contact you about your treatment, and we delete it after a certain period, whether or not you visit the clinic.

Article 7 (Disclosure, correction and suspension of use)

• If you request the disclosure, correction, addition, deletion or suspension of use of your own personal information, we will confirm your identity and respond without delay in accordance with the law. However, we may withhold all or part of the information where disclosure would fall under any of the following, and if we decide not to disclose we will notify you of that decision without delay.
  • (1) Where there is a risk of harm to the life, body, property or other rights and interests of you or a third party
  • (2) Where there is a risk of significant hindrance to the proper conduct of the clinic’s business
  • (3) Where it would otherwise violate laws or regulations
• Requests for disclosure and the like are accepted at the contact point in Article 10.

Article 8 (Cookies and website analytics)

• This site uses Google Analytics, an analytics tool provided by Google, in order to improve our service and understand how the site is used. The tool uses cookies to collect information about users; this information is collected anonymously and does not identify individuals.
• You can refuse this collection by disabling cookies in your browser settings. For the terms of use and privacy policy of Google Analytics, please refer to Google’s website.

Article 9 (Changes to this Policy)

Except for matters otherwise provided by law, the contents of this Policy may be changed without notice to you. The revised Policy takes effect when it is posted on this site.

Article 10 (Contact point)

Please direct enquiries about this Policy, and requests for disclosure of personal information, to the following contact point.

Saiwai-cho 1-1-1-201 Naniwa-ku Osaka
Minatomachi Dental Clinic
Contact us by email

This English text is a translation provided for your convenience. If there is any discrepancy between this translation and the Japanese original, the Japanese text prevails.