Effective date: April 2026 (revised October 2026)
This notice describes how medical and dental information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.
Who we are
Richmond Dental Care (operated by Smilingmint PLLC) is a dental practice at 8019 W Grand Pkwy S, Suite 1055, Richmond, TX 77407. We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your protected health information, to give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices, to follow the terms of the notice currently in effect, and to notify you if a breach of your unsecured protected health information occurs.
How we may use and disclose your information
For treatment
We may use and share your health information to provide your dental care. For example, your dentist may share information with a specialist or a dental laboratory involved in your care, or with another provider when we refer you.
For payment
We may use and share your information to bill and get paid by your insurance plan or another payer. For example, we may send your treatment details to your insurer to process a claim or check your benefits.
For health care operations
We may use and share your information to run our practice, such as for quality improvement, staff training, scheduling and business management.
Appointment reminders and follow-up
We may contact you to remind you of an appointment or to follow up on treatment.
When required or permitted by law
We will share your information when required by federal, state or local law, and we may share it for other purposes permitted by law, such as public health reporting, health oversight activities, responding to a court order or subpoena, law enforcement purposes, preventing a serious threat to health or safety, and workers’ compensation claims.
Uses that need your written permission
We will not use or share your information for marketing, and we will not sell your information, unless you give us written permission. Other uses and disclosures not described in this notice will be made only with your written authorization. You may revoke an authorization in writing at any time, except to the extent we have already acted on it.
Your rights
- Right to access: you may request a copy of your dental records and health information. We will respond within 30 days of your request. We may charge a reasonable, cost-based fee.
- Right to amend: you may ask us to correct information you believe is incorrect or incomplete. We may say no, but we will tell you why in writing.
- Right to an accounting of disclosures: you may ask for a list of times we shared your information for purposes other than treatment, payment, health care operations and certain other purposes.
- Right to request restrictions: you may ask us to limit how we use or share your information. We are not required to agree in most cases, but we will consider each request. If you pay for a service in full out of pocket, you can ask us not to share information about that service with your health plan, and we will agree unless a law requires us to share it.
- Right to confidential communications: you may ask us to contact you in a specific way, for example by phone only or at a different address. We will agree to reasonable requests.
- Right to a paper copy of this notice: you may ask for a paper copy at any time, even if you agreed to receive it electronically.
- Right to choose someone to act for you: if you have given someone medical power of attorney or someone is your legal guardian, that person can exercise your rights.
How we protect your information
We maintain administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect your health information. Please do not send detailed health information by regular email; call us instead.
How to exercise your rights or file a complaint
To exercise any of these rights, or if you believe your privacy rights have been violated, contact us:
- Richmond Dental Care, 8019 W Grand Pkwy S, Suite 1055, Richmond, TX 77407
- Phone: (832) 612-2831
- Email: info@richmond-dentalcare.com
You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201, by calling 1-877-696-6775, or online at hhs.gov/ocr/complaints. We will not retaliate against you for filing a complaint.
Changes to this notice
We can change the terms of this notice, and the changes will apply to all information we have about you. The current notice will always be available on this website and at our front desk, and the effective date at the top shows when it was last revised. How we handle website information is covered in our privacy policy and terms and conditions.