Privacy Policy

Dentalcare Istanbul is committed to protecting your personal data and being transparent about how we collect and use it. This policy explains our practices in plain English, in compliance with the UK/EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Turkish Law on Personal Data Protection (KVKK, Law No. 6698).

Last updated: June 2026 (template — review before publishing)

1. Who we are

Dentalcare Istanbul(“we”, “us”, “our”) is an independent dental treatment and travel coordinator. We are not a dental clinic and we do not provide clinical treatment. Our role is to help international patients access vetted, licensed dental care in Istanbul and to manage the practical aspects of the process: pre-assessment, treatment planning, travel logistics, and aftercare coordination.

Contact us about data protection:
Email: hello@dentalcareistanbul.com
Postal address: [PLACEHOLDER — business address]

If you are based in the UK, you may also contact us via our UK representative: [PLACEHOLDER — UK representative name and address, if applicable].

2. What personal data we collect

We collect the following categories of personal data:

2a. Contact and enquiry information

• Your name, email address, and phone number (submitted via our contact/quote form)
• Your country of residence
• The treatment you are enquiring about and any details you provide about your dental situation
• The content of subsequent email or WhatsApp communications

2b. Special-category health data (medical photos and X-rays)

Important: If you choose to share dental photographs, X-rays, or other clinical images with us for the purpose of obtaining a treatment plan, this constitutes special-category personal data relating to your health under Article 9 GDPR and sensitive personal data under KVKK Article 6. We handle this data with additional care and it is only processed for the specific purpose of preparing your itemised treatment plan.

You are never required to submit medical images. If you do, you are doing so voluntarily and with explicit consent (see Section 4 below).

2c. Technical and usage data

We may collect standard server-log information (IP address, browser type, pages visited, timestamps) for security and performance purposes. In Phase 1 of this site, we use minimal cookies — see Section 12 on cookies.

3. How we collect data

We collect personal data when you:

• Submit a quote request or contact form on this website
• Send us an email or WhatsApp message directly
• Share clinical images or X-rays with us for treatment planning

We do not purchase data from third parties or obtain data from data brokers.

4. Lawful basis for processing

We process your personal data on the following lawful bases under GDPR Article 6 and KVKK:

• Consent (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR; KVKK Article 5(1)): When you submit a quote enquiry, you consent to us using your contact details and enquiry information to respond to your request and prepare a treatment plan. For special-category health data (medical photos/X-rays), we rely on your explicit consent under Article 9(2)(a) GDPR.
• Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR): We process technical/usage data on the basis of our legitimate interest in maintaining the security and performance of our website, provided this does not override your fundamental rights.

You may withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal. To withdraw consent or request deletion, see Section 10.

5. How we use your data

We use your personal data to:

• Respond to your enquiry and answer your questions
• Prepare an itemised dental treatment plan, working with our partner clinic
• Coordinate travel and accommodation arrangements with Safaryar Holidays (our travel partner)
• Communicate with you throughout the treatment planning and booking process
• Maintain records of our correspondence for accountability and data-protection compliance

We do not use your data for automated decision-making, profiling, or targeted advertising.

6. Who we share your data with

We may share your personal data with the following categories of recipient, strictly for the purposes described:

• Our licensed partner clinic in Istanbul: Your clinical information and any images you share are passed to the partner clinic for the purpose of preparing your treatment plan. The clinic is independently licensed by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health and operates under its own data-protection obligations under KVKK.
• Safaryar Holidays: Your contact details and travel requirements are shared with our travel partner, Safaryar Holidays, who coordinates hotel, transfer and flight arrangements. Contact: hello@safaryarholidays.com.
• Email service provider (Resend):We use Resend as our transactional email processor. Your email address and the content of communications are processed by Resend as a data processor acting on our instructions. Resend’s privacy policy is available at resend.com/privacy.
• Hosting and infrastructure providers: [PLACEHOLDER — list your hosting provider(s), e.g. Vercel, and their data-processing agreements].

We do not sell your data. We do not share it with third parties for their own marketing purposes. Any third party we share data with is bound by contractual obligations to process it only on our instructions and in compliance with applicable data-protection law.

7. International transfers

When your enquiry and clinical information are shared with our partner clinic in Istanbul, your data is transferred to and processed in Turkey. Turkey is recognised by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of data protection for certain categories of transfer [PLACEHOLDER — verify current adequacy status and adjust as required]. If you are based in the UK, the UK Government’s adequacy regulations should also be checked at the time of publication.

Where no adequacy decision applies, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) as the appropriate transfer mechanism. [PLACEHOLDER — confirm and reference your specific SCCs or other transfer mechanism with your legal adviser.]

8. How long we keep your data

We retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this policy, subject to any legal obligations to retain records for longer. As a guide:

• Enquiry correspondence and contact details: [PLACEHOLDER — e.g. 2 years from last contact]
• Clinical images and treatment plans: [PLACEHOLDER — e.g. 5 years, to align with clinical record-keeping norms]
• Technical/server logs: [PLACEHOLDER — e.g. 30–90 days]

When data is no longer needed, we delete or anonymise it securely.

9. Your rights under GDPR and KVKK

If you are based in the UK or EU, you have the following rights under GDPR. If you are based in Turkey, you have equivalent rights under KVKK Article 11. In both cases, you may exercise these rights free of charge:

• Right of access: You may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification: You may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”): You may ask us to delete your data where there is no legitimate reason for us to continue holding it.
• Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of earlier processing.
• Right to restrict processing: You may ask us to pause processing of your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability: You may ask us to provide your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Right to object: You may object to processing carried out on the basis of legitimate interests.
• Rights related to automated decision-making: We do not use automated decision-making with legal or similarly significant effects, but you have the right not to be subject to it.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at hello@dentalcareistanbul.com. We will respond within one calendar month.

If you believe we have not handled your data correctly, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your supervisory authority:

• UK: Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) — ico.org.uk
• EU: Your local data protection authority
• Turkey: Kişisel Verileri Koruma Kurumu (KVKK) — kvkk.gov.tr

10. How to request deletion

To request deletion of your personal data, email us at hello@dentalcareistanbul.comwith the subject line “Data deletion request” and your name and the email address you used to contact us. We will confirm receipt within 5 working days and complete the deletion within one calendar month, subject to any legal obligation to retain records.

Note: where your data has been shared with the partner clinic as part of an active treatment plan, we will notify the clinic and request deletion from their records too, to the extent this is technically possible.

11. Data security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. These include: use of TLS encryption for data in transit; access controls limiting who can view enquiry data; use of reputable, GDPR-compliant service providers. [PLACEHOLDER — add specific security measures as implemented.]

No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure. If you become aware of a potential data security issue involving your data, please contact us immediately at hello@dentalcareistanbul.com.

12. Cookies

In Phase 1 of this website, we aim to use only technically necessary cookies — those required for the site to function. We do not currently use analytics cookies, advertising cookies, or third-party tracking scripts beyond those strictly necessary for site operation.

If this changes, we will update this policy and display an appropriate cookie consent notice. [PLACEHOLDER — add a cookie table listing specific cookies by name, purpose, provider, and duration before launch.]

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Where changes are material, we will notify you by email (if you have previously contacted us) or by posting a prominent notice on this page. The “last updated” date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

14. Contact

For any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, contact us at:
hello@dentalcareistanbul.com