Levine Orthodontics Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 1, 2026

Levine Orthodontics (“we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you use our website at https://bracesfl.com/ (the “site”) or contact any of our offices by phone, text, email, or in person, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have.

This policy covers our website and our everyday communications with you. Your medical and dental records are protected separately under HIPAA; see the section “Your health information (HIPAA)” below.

Who we are

Levine Orthodontics, led by Dr. Alex Levine, with offices in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Lehigh Acres, Florida:

Fort Myers: 28 Barkley Cir, Fort Myers, FL 33907
Cape Coral: 407 Cape Coral Pkwy W, Ste A, Cape Coral, FL 33914
Lehigh Acres: 5220 Lee Blvd, Unit 1, Lehigh Acres, FL 33971

Call or text: (239) 310-0000
Email: smile@bracesfl.com

If you have any questions about this policy or about your information, contact us using the details above.

Information we collect

What you send through this website

We do not offer online booking. Every appointment is arranged by a person at the practice, so a request you send through this site is a message to our team rather than a booking, and we will contact you to arrange a time.

Our website forms, on the consultation page and the contact page, ask for:

First and last name
Email address
Phone number
Which of our three offices you prefer
How you heard about us
A short message telling us how we can help

We deliberately do not ask for health details, insurance details, or a date of birth on this website. If we need any of that, we will collect it in the office or over the phone.

What you send through a website form is stored in our website system and emailed to the office so we can reply and prepare for your visit. Our website system is not the medical records system we use for your care, and it is not covered by HIPAA in the way your patient record is. So please keep website messages brief: do not send medical history, diagnoses, medication lists, images, or anything urgent through a website form. For anything urgent, or anything detailed about your health, call the office.

What we collect as your orthodontist

Your health and dental information, including dental and medical history, medications, allergies, diagnostic images, treatment plans, and insurance details, is collected in the office, on the patient intake forms you sign, or through our patient management system. That information is part of your patient record and is protected under HIPAA, as described in “Your health information (HIPAA)” below. We do not collect it through this website. Because we have no online booking, nothing you send through this site becomes part of your patient record until a member of our team enters it there.

Information collected automatically

When you visit the site, our hosting and security systems record basic technical data needed to deliver the pages and protect the site: your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you request, and the date and time of each request. This happens on every website and does not require your consent.

Beyond that, the site uses cookies and similar technologies only as described in the next section and in our Cookie Policy. Analytics cookies are never set unless you choose to accept them.

When you first visit the site, you will see a cookie banner with two equal choices, Accept and Reject, plus a Preferences option to choose by category. Until you make a choice, the site sets only strictly necessary cookies and loads no analytics or advertising tools. Scrolling or continuing to browse is not treated as consent.

Strictly necessary: cookies that make the site work and keep it secure, such as the cookie that remembers your cookie choices and the Cloudflare cookie that protects the site from bots. These do not need consent.
Functional: if you use the translate menu to read the site in another language, Google Translate stores your language choice in a cookie. Nothing is stored until you pick a language.
Analytics (only if you accept): Google Analytics 4, which tells us how many people visit, which pages they read, and whether the site works well on their devices. Google Analytics runs through Google Tag Manager and is configured with Google Consent Mode so that nothing is measured until you accept. We use it to improve the site, not to identify you.

Our contact, consultation request, cost calculator, and payment plan pages load no analytics or advertising tags at all, even if you accepted cookies.

You can change or withdraw your choice at any time by clicking Cookie Preferences in the footer of any page. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal, we treat it as a rejection of all non-necessary cookies. We keep a record of the choice you made (date, time, and the categories you allowed) so we can show that we honored it.

We do not currently run advertising pixels, session recording, or heat mapping tools on the site. If we ever add a tool of that kind, we will update this policy and the Cookie Policy first, and it will only run with your consent.

The full list of cookies, who sets them, and how long they last is in our Cookie Policy.

How we use your information

We use the information we collect to:

Provide orthodontic consultations, treatment plans, and care
Schedule, confirm, and remind you about appointments, including by text message
Respond to your requests, questions, and feedback
Verify insurance and process payments
Understand how visitors use the site so we can improve it (only with your analytics consent)
Keep the site secure and prevent abuse of our forms
Comply with legal and regulatory obligations

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing. Your mobile phone number and text message consent will not be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.

We share information only with service providers who help us run the practice and the site, and only for the purpose we engaged them for. Each is bound by contract. Vendors that handle information from your patient record are also covered by a HIPAA business associate agreement. The services used by the site today are:

Cloudflare: delivers the site and protects it from attacks. Processes IP addresses and sets one strictly necessary cookie.
Complianz: shows the cookie banner, blocks tracking until you choose, and stores your consent choice. It runs on our own server as part of this website; your choice is not sent to a third party.
Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4: site analytics, only after you accept analytics cookies. Google’s privacy policy applies: policies.google.com/privacy.
Google reCAPTCHA: protects our online forms from spam. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Weave: the “text us” and booking button in the corner of every page. Messages and booking requests you send through it go to Weave, our patient communication platform, and to our office.
Google Translate: the language menu. When you pick a language, Google receives the page text to translate it and stores your choice in a cookie.
OpenStreetMap: the office maps. Loading a map fetches map tiles from OpenStreetMap’s servers, which see your IP address.
Google Maps: the maps on our contact page and on each office page. Loading a map sends your IP address to Google and may set Google cookies.
InLinks: adds related links between our own pages. Its script loads from jscloud.net and receives the page address and your IP address. In our testing, it set no cookies.
Appointment reminder and patient communication services, which send our appointment confirmations and reminders.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, to protect the rights and safety of our patients and staff, or as part of a sale or reorganization of the practice, in which case this policy continues to apply.

We do not transfer your information outside the United States. Some of the providers above are global companies that may process technical data on servers elsewhere under their own privacy policies.

Text messages (SMS)

By providing your mobile number, you consent to receive text messages from Levine Orthodontics, such as appointment reminders, confirmations, and replies to your questions. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply.

How to opt in: provide your mobile number on a form (online or in the office), check the consent box, or start a conversation through the text widget on the site.

How to opt out: reply STOP to any message, call or text (239) 310-0000, or email smile@bracesfl.com. After you opt out, you will not receive further texts from us except a single message confirming your opt-out. Reply HELP for help.

Your mobile information will not be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent are not shared with any third parties.

Your health information (HIPAA)

As a healthcare provider, Levine Orthodontics is subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Your protected health information, including your records, treatment plans, images, and insurance information, is handled under HIPAA’s Privacy Rule and Security Rule and is described in our Notice of Privacy Practices, which is a separate document. You may request a copy at any time by calling (239) 310-0000 or asking at the front desk of any office.

We may use and disclose protected health information without your written authorization for treatment (for example, sharing records with your dentist or oral surgeon), payment (for example, submitting claims to your insurer), and healthcare operations. Any other use or disclosure requires your written authorization, which you may revoke at any time.

Your choices and rights

You can:

Accept, reject, or change cookie categories at any time through the Cookie Preferences link in the site footer
Ask what personal information we hold about you and request a copy
Ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or out of date
Ask us to delete your information, as allowed by law (Florida law requires us to keep patient records for a set period)
Withdraw consent, and opt out of text messages or marketing communications, at any time
Request a copy of our HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices

To exercise any of these rights, call or text (239) 310-0000 or email smile@bracesfl.com. We will respond within 30 days. We will never treat you differently for exercising a privacy right.

We honor Global Privacy Control browser signals as an opt-out of non-necessary cookies. We do not respond to other “Do Not Track” browser settings because there is no common standard for them.

Data security

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your information. The site is served over HTTPS, forms are protected against automated abuse, and patient records are kept in HIPAA-compliant systems with role-based access. No system is completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your data, and we review our vendors regularly.

How long we keep information

We keep patient records for as long as Florida law and our professional obligations require. Website form submissions and widget messages are kept only as long as needed to respond to you and are then deleted or moved into your patient record. Cookie lifetimes are listed in the Cookie Policy. Consent records are kept for as long as needed to demonstrate your choice.

Children’s privacy

We treat children, teens, and adults. When a patient is under 18, a parent or legal guardian provides the information and consent for treatment. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 through the site without a parent’s consent. If you believe a child has sent us information through the site, contact us, and we will delete it.

Links to other websites

The site links to other websites, such as our social media pages, review sites, and orthodontic organizations. We are not responsible for their privacy practices. Please review the privacy policy of any site you visit.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top shows the most recent revision. If we add a new cookie or third-party tool, we will update this policy and the Cookie Policy before it goes live. Changes are posted at https://bracesfl.com/privacy-policy/.