Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 18, 2026 Be You Dental Astoria — Dr. Bryant Ukaigwe, DMD

The short version

We collect only what the appointment request form asks for: your name, phone number, an optional email address, when you would like us to call, and what you would like to come in for. It is stored in a private database so the front desk can call you back. We do not sell it, we do not trade it, and we do not use it for advertising.

Please don't type medical details into the form. Tell us about your health on the phone or at your visit instead. And this form is not for emergencies — if you are having a medical emergency, or swelling that affects your breathing or swallowing, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.

What we collect

When you send an appointment request

The form on our home page asks for, and stores:

Your name
Your phone number
Your email address, if you choose to give one (it is optional)
The best time to reach you, in your own words
What you are interested in coming in for, and anything else you choose to add
The date and time you submitted the request
Your browser's user-agent string (the browser and device type), which helps us diagnose broken submissions
A one-way scrambled fingerprint of your network address — a truncated hash, not the address itself. We use it only to spot repeated spam from the same source. It cannot be turned back into your address.

Everything in the form is optional except your name and phone number, because without those we cannot call you back.

When you call or email

If you call the office or email [email protected], we keep what you tell us the way any dental office does: in your patient record once you are a patient, or as a message for the front desk if you are not yet. Email is not a secure channel, so please don't send health details by email.

Analytics

As of the date above, this website runs no analytics, no advertising pixels, no session recording, and no chat widget. Our web host keeps standard, aggregate traffic counts (how many people visited, roughly where from) that are not tied to your name. If we ever add a basic analytics tool, we will say so here, name the tool, and update the date at the top of this page before turning it on.

How we use it

To call or email you back and offer you an appointment time
To answer the question you asked
To keep a record that you contacted us, and when
To keep the form working and to block spam submissions

That is the whole list. We do not use appointment requests to build marketing lists, and we will not add you to a text or email campaign because you filled in this form. If we ever want to send you appointment reminders or practice news, we will ask you first.

Who sees it

Appointment requests are read by Dr. Ukaigwe and the practice staff who schedule appointments, and by the web contractor who maintains this site when something needs to be fixed. Nobody else. Specifically, we do not sell, rent, or trade your information, and we do not share it with advertisers, data brokers, or social networks.

We will disclose information when the law requires it — for example a valid subpoena or court order — or when it is necessary to protect someone's safety.

Storage, security, and how long we keep it

Form submissions are transmitted over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection and written to a private database hosted by Cloudflare. Access requires a credential held by the practice; the database is not reachable from the public web and its contents are not indexed by search engines. Your network address is hashed before storage, so we never keep it in readable form.

We keep appointment requests for as long as we need them to schedule and document your contact with the practice. [Record retention period — to confirm with the practice and its counsel] Once you become a patient, your clinical record is kept under the retention rules that apply to New York dental records, separately from this website.

No website is perfectly secure. We use reasonable safeguards, and we keep the amount of information the form collects deliberately small so that there is little to lose.

Cookies and local storage

This site sets no cookies of its own and stores nothing in your browser's local storage. There is no tracking cookie, no advertising cookie, and therefore no cookie banner to dismiss.

Two things do reach out to other companies when a page loads: our web fonts are served by Google Fonts, and our page files are served by Cloudflare. Both see the request your browser makes (including your network address) as a normal part of delivering the page.

The map and other embedded content

The map in our contact section is click-to-load on purpose. A Google Maps embed sets Google cookies on your browser the moment the map loads, so we do not load it for everyone who scrolls past. It stays a plain address box until you press “Show map.” If you would rather not load Google's map at all, use the “Get directions” link, which simply hands you off to Google Maps in a new tab, or ask us for walking directions when you call.

Companies that help us run this site

Cloudflare — hosts the website, the appointment form handler, and the database the requests are stored in, and filters malicious traffic.
Google Workspace — runs the practice's [email protected] mailbox. If you email us, your message is stored in Google Workspace.
Google Fonts — serves the two typefaces this site uses.
Google Maps — only if you press “Show map,” or follow the directions link.

Each of these companies has its own privacy policy governing what it does with the requests it receives.

HIPAA and this website

This website is not a patient portal, and it is not a secure channel for health information. Please don't send diagnoses, symptoms, medications, X-rays, insurance claim details, or anything else you would consider private health information through the form or by email.

Ask your question on the phone at (347) 566-8816, or bring it to your visit. If we need documents from you, we will tell you a safe way to get them to us.

Be You Dental Astoria is a dental practice, and the health information in your patient chart is protected by HIPAA and by New York state law. Those protections attach to your clinical record and to how the practice handles it. A name and phone number you type into a website contact form is not a clinical record, which is exactly why we ask you to keep medical details out of it and why we store requests rather than emailing them around.

The practice's full Notice of Privacy Practices — the HIPAA notice covering your patient record — is provided at your first visit and available at the front desk. [Notice of Privacy Practices PDF link — to add once finalized]

Your choices and your rights

You can ask us to:

Tell you what we have from a form submission you sent
Correct it if we wrote your number down wrong
Delete it, as long as we are not required to keep it as part of a patient record
Stop contacting you about the request you sent

Call (347) 566-8816 or email [email protected] and ask. We may need to verify who you are before we hand over or delete anything, which protects you as much as us.

As a patient, you have additional rights over your dental record under HIPAA — to see it, get a copy, request an amendment, and receive an accounting of certain disclosures. Ask the front desk, and see the Notice of Privacy Practices.

Children

This website is written for adults and is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them through it. A parent or guardian should send the request for a child who needs an appointment. If you believe a child sent us something through this site, call us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change what we collect or who we share it with, we will update this page and change the “last updated” date at the top. Material changes — adding analytics, a chat widget, or online payments, for example — will be described here before they go live.

How to reach us

Questions about this policy, or about information you have sent us:

Phone: (347) 566-8816
Email: [email protected]
In person or by mail: Be You Dental Astoria, 31-72 31st St, Ste 1, Astoria, NY 11106
Privacy questions go to: [Practice privacy officer name and title]

You can also read our accessibility statement.

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