Data Protection

1. Our Role as an Advisory Agency

Albanian Dentistry is a dental tourism recommendation and advisory agency based in Albania. We are not a clinic, dentist, or healthcare provider and do not perform any medical procedures. Our role is limited to advising patients and introducing them to independent, third-party clinics and dentists.

We act only as an introducer and advisory service. We are not your agent, we are not the clinic's medical representative, and we do not arrange, provide, or sell medical treatment.

Because of this, most clinical and medical records are created and controlled directly by the treating clinic or dentist, not by us. This page explains how we handle the personal data that we do process in the course of our advisory and introduction activities.

2. Principles We Follow

We aim to handle personal data in line with core data protection principles such as:

• Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency.
• Purpose limitation – we only use data for clear, legitimate purposes.
• Data minimisation – we only collect what we reasonably need.
• Accuracy – we try to keep information up to date and correct obvious errors when notified.
• Storage limitation – we do not keep data longer than necessary.
• Integrity and confidentiality – we apply reasonable security measures.

3. Categories of Data We Handle

In our role as an advisory and introduction agency, we may handle:

• Identity and contact details (name, email address, phone number, country of residence).
• Communication details (questions, preferences, and information you voluntarily share with us).
• Limited medical/dental information that you choose to send (for example, images or X-rays) for the purpose of obtaining a preliminary opinion or quote from a clinic.

We do not create or maintain complete medical records. Those remain the responsibility of the independent clinics and dentists who treat you.

4. Processing on Behalf of Clinics

When you ask us to introduce you to a clinic or request a quote, we may forward some of your information to that clinic. In these situations:

• We act solely as an intermediary, passing on information at your explicit request and with your consent.
• We will not forward any health or dental information (such as X-rays, photographs, or dental history) to a clinic without your explicit consent to do so. Where such information is shared, we will make clear to you which clinic it is being sent to and for what purpose.
• Each clinic is independently responsible for complying with its own medical, legal, and data protection obligations.
• Any detailed clinical assessment, diagnosis, or treatment decision is made directly by the clinic, not by us.

We also operate a referral model whereby the clinic may pay us a fee upon a completed dental procedure by a patient we have introduced. This commercial arrangement does not affect how your personal data is handled and does not result in your data being shared beyond what is described above.

5. Retention and Deletion

We keep your personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary to:

• Respond to your enquiries and facilitate introductions.
• Maintain basic records of our communications for accountability and legal purposes.

When data is no longer needed, we endeavour to delete or anonymise it securely. You can also request deletion of your data where permitted by law (see the Privacy Policy for details).

6. Security Measures

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect the personal data we handle, such as limiting access to authorised personnel and using secure communication channels where appropriate. However, no online system is completely secure, and you should take care when sending sensitive medical information over the internet.

7. Relationship with Our Privacy Policy

This Data Protection page is intended to complement our Privacy Policy, which provides more detail on what data we collect, how we use it, your rights, and how to contact us regarding privacy matters.

8. Contact

If you have any questions about how we protect and handle your data, please contact us using the details on our Contact page.