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Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

BCDA's Privacy Policy

Last Updated: July 22, 2024

About These Terms of Use

This website (“Site”) is owned and operated by the BC Dental Association (“BCDA”). All use of this Site is conditional and subject to these terms and conditions (“Terms”). These Terms apply to all BCDA members, visitors and others who use this Site.

By accessing, reading and making use of this site, you agree, on your own behalf and on behalf of any entity on whose behalf you may be acting, to be bound by these terms. If you do not wish to be bound by the terms, you should not use this site.

Your access and use of this Site are also subject to our: Website & Member Portal Privacy Policy.

In these Terms, “we” or “us” or “our” refers to the BCDA. References to the Site include both the BCDA website info@bcdental.org and its member only area (the “Member Portal”). References to “Member” or “Members” refers to members of the BCDA.

Use of the Site and Content

We make available on the Site, including the Member Portal, information and other content relevant to the practise of dentistry, the business and affairs of the BCDA and other related information of public interest (the “Content”). This Content is provided solely for information purposes and does not constitute advice.  You should not rely on any of the Content without first confirming its accuracy.

Member Only Portal

We authorize our Members to access a member only area on the Site referred to as the Member Portal. This Content available through the Member Portal is provided for the purposes of general advice, information and education for use by our Members in Canada. It is not intended to be a substitute for direct consultation with the BCDA, legal professionals or other professional advisors regarding specific medical-legal issues.

To access specific medical-legal information or advice our Members should contact a BCDA representative directly by phone or regular mail in accordance with the contact information provided on the Site.

The Content may contain learning resources of a general nature that are presented for educational purposes for use by dental professionals. The information contained within such learning materials is for informational purposes only; it is not professional legal or medical-legal advice, nor is it intended to be a substitute. Therefore, ideas and approaches contained within such learning materials may NOT represent “the standard of care” for Canadian Dental Professionals. Standards of medical and dental care are specific to the facts and circumstances of an individual case; and, may be subject to change as scientific knowledge and technology advance and as practice patterns evolve.  Members of the dental professional are responsible for independently verifying standards of care that they use and apply in the course of their practices.

Application of these Terms to the Member Portal

For users of the Member Portal you may be required to indicate your acceptance to be bound by these Terms on initial log-in before you will be allowed to access or use the Member Portal. By clicking “I AGREE” (or its equivalent), you are indicating your acceptance to be so bound. If you do not accept these Terms as indicated on your initial log in, you will not be allowed to enter the Member Portal. This “click-through” may only appear on initial log-in on the Member Portal. The BCDA may revise these Terms or impose additional conditions on the use of the Member Portal from time to time. In such circumstances, you may be asked to agree to the revised Terms, and such revised Terms shall supersede prior versions of the Terms.

You agree that electronic pages of the Site are the equivalent of written documents and that your signifying agreement or acknowledgement by “clicking” any buttons, stating “agree”, (or its equivalent) or by typing “agree” (or its equivalent) where prompted by the Site shall have the same legal effect as if you had placed your signature by hand and provided hard-copy versions of such pages to the BCDA with the intention to be legally bound.

You will be given a unique user ID and temporary password to access the Member Portal. You will be prompted by the Site to create your own password. Your user ID and password are for your personal use only. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your user ID and password and are responsible for all activities that occur under your ID and password. You agree to notify the BCDA immediately of any unauthorized use of your user ID or password or any other breach of security. The BCDA will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to protect your user ID, your password, or the valid response to your selected challenge question.

First-time users will be given a temporary password that should be changed and personalized at first login. You agree that you will comply with the password selection guidelines as may be issued from time to time by the BCDA and that you shall change your password as prompted by the Site to reduce the potential for unauthorized use.

You agree that, by accessing the Member Portal using your user ID and password, the BCDA may use your user ID and password as the means to authenticate your identity for the purposes of using the Member Portal.

Member Only Portal, Access Accounts

Subject to these Terms, as a Member, you are hereby granted a personal limited, non-transferable and non-exclusive licence to access, view and use the Member Portal and its Content in relation to your professional practice. You are granted the right to download, store and/or print single copies of items comprising the Content for use in your professional practice, provided you maintain all copyright and other notices contained in such Content. You must also abide by any additional requirements governing the use of any specific Content that may be set out on the Member Portal. In the event of a conflict between the terms of a specific licence governing specific Content and these Terms, the terms of the specific licence shall govern. 

Subject to these Terms, support staff at Member-owned and managed dental practices (“Dental Staff”) may be granted a limited, non-transferable and non-exclusive licence to access, view and use the BCDA’s Member Portal, by request only. Dental Staff access accounts are the sole property of the Member who requested the account, and the Member agrees to monitor and ensure the Dental Staff Access Account is being used in accordance with these Terms and BCDA policies. Both Member Accounts and Dental Staff Access Accounts may be suspended or terminated at any time without reason or cause. 

While the Site is publicly accessible to visitors, except as expressly set out in these Terms, no right to access and use the Member Portal or its Content is granted by these Terms to any person who is not a Member.

Your Obligations

As a condition of using the Site, you agree that you are responsible for all activities undertaken by you when using the Site. Without limiting the other provisions of these Terms, you agree that you will not engage in any of the following when accessing or use the Site:

  • use the Site for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms.
  • disrupt the functioning of the Site or use the Site in any way that interferes with other users’ use of the Site, including by damaging, disabling, overburdening, or impairing the Site;
  • attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site through hacking, password mining, or other means;
  • use the Site in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair the Site or interfere with any other party’s use and enjoyment of the Site;
  • engage in harassment in any manner, including via e-mail, chat, or by use of obscene, offensive or abusive language (as determined by us in our sole discretion);
  • impersonate others, including a BCDA employee or representative, or other Members or visitors to the Site;
  • upload, distribute or otherwise publish any content that is defamatory, obscene, threatening, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, illegal, or otherwise objectionable, or that may constitute or encourage a criminal offence, violate the rights of any party or that may otherwise give rise to liability or violate any law;
  • collect users or our content or information or otherwise access the Site using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers) without our permission.
Security and Viruses

We have implemented reasonable technology and security features, as well as internal guidelines, to safeguard the privacy of your personal information from unauthorised access or improper use when using the Site.

While we make reasonable efforts to ensure that your information is secure on our system, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk and your use of our Site demonstrates your assumption of this risk.

We have taken steps to ensure that our Site is free of computer viruses and other harmful components. Nevertheless, you should install and maintain appropriate anti-virus and other protective software on the devices from which you access and use the Site. Without limiting any other part of these Terms, we disclaim all liability for any computer viruses or other harmful or destructive programs that you may download from the Site.

Changes to Terms and Conditions

We may add to or remove, modify or otherwise change any part of the Terms at any time. Changes will be effective when the amended Terms are posted on this Site. You should check the Terms frequently for changes by checking the date this page was last updated, at the top of this page. If any change to the Terms is not acceptable to you, you should discontinue your use of this Site immediately. Your continued use of this Site after changes to the Terms are posted thereon will constitute acceptance of the changes.

Changes to this Site

We may terminate, change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of this Site or the Member Portal at any time without notice to you. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, we may  change the availability of any features, institute new, or change existing, fees or charges for the use of the Site or any features thereof, add, remove, modify or otherwise change any contents on this Site or the Member Portal, impose limits on certain features or restrict access to parts or all of this Site. We reserve the right, but not the duty, to correct any errors or omissions in any portion of this Site at any time without notice.

Ownership and Usage

Copyright: All Content (including articles, reports, text, images, audio or visual recordings) and web code (“Works”) on this Site or Member Portal and in all BCDA publications are the property of the BCDA (Copyright © BC Dental Association) unless otherwise indicated.

Exceptions, permissions and terms: As a user of this Site or the Member Portal you agree that you will not transmit, transcribe, reproduce, store or translate the Works into any other form, in whole or in part, except as expressly set out herein .

Permitted uses:  Users of the Site or Member Portal may use the Works only for private or educational use, provided the copyright notices on any such Works remain on the Works.

Third Party Works: Works found on or through the Site or BCDA paper publications which bear the name of or credit to a third-party creator require the permission of the third-party creator for any reproduction or other use unless otherwise indicated.

You do not acquire ownership rights to any Content by accessing or using the Site, and our posting of Content on the Site is not a waiver of any right in or to that Content.

General Feedback

If you send any communications, comments, questions, suggestions, or related materials to us by any method of communication suggesting or recommending changes to the site, any services offered through the site, or Content (“Feedback”) then:

  • all Feedback is not, and will not be treated as, your confidential or proprietary information or property;
  • we are free to use, without any attribution or compensation to you, any ideas, know-how, concepts, techniques, or other intellectual property and proprietary rights contained in the Feedback for any purpose whatsoever; and
  • you understand and agree that we are not obligated to use, display, reproduce, or distribute any such ideas, know-how, concepts, or techniques contained in the Feedback, and you have no right to compel us to do so.
Linking Agreement

If you wish to link to this Site, you may do so, provided you agree to the link conditions described below (“Link Conditions”):

  1. A link may be established to the following home page of this Site (“Home Page”) at https://www.bcdental.org.
  2. If you link to this Site, your website;
    • may not directly or indirectly state or imply that the BCDA is endorsing you or your products or services;
    • may not directly or indirectly state or imply an affiliation exists between you or any entity on whose behalf you may be acting without the prior written consent of the BCDA;
    • may not misrepresent your relationship with the BCDA or present false or misleading impressions about the BCDA or its services; and
    • may not link this Site to any other website containing content that may be interpreted as distasteful or offensive or inconsistent with the laws of Canada or the standards of conduct applicable to members of the dental profession in British Columbia.
  3. The BCDA shall have no responsibility or liability for any content appearing on your website.
  4. The BCDA may at any time, in its sole discretion, immediately terminate your right to link to this Site, with or without cause. If the BCDA exercises this right, you will immediately remove all links to this Site.

By establishing a link to this Site, you will be deemed to have agreed to these Link Conditions.

Websites Linked to this Site

Certain websites may be linked to this Site. Not all links may have been permitted by the BCDA. Regardless of whether a link has been permitted by the BCDA, the BCDA is not responsible for the contents of any website that is linked to this Site. The BCDA makes no representations or warranties, and does not endorse, any website that is linked to this Site, the contents of any such website, the information appearing on any such website or any of the products or services described on any such website. The fact that a website is linked to this Site does not imply that the BCDA sponsors, endorses or is affiliated or associated with the entity that owns or is responsible for the website.

External Links

Certain links on this Site may take you to other websites. The BCDA provides these links only as a convenience. The BCDA is not responsible for the contents of any linked website. The BCDA makes no representations or warranties regarding, and does not endorse, any linked website, the contents thereof, the information appearing thereon or any of the products or services described thereon. Links do not imply that the BCDA sponsors, endorses or is affiliated or associated with the entity that owns or is responsible for any linked website. If you decide to visit any linked websites, you will do so at your own risk.

Disclaimer

Except as expressly set out in these terms, this site and the content are provided “as is” and “as available” and without representations or warranties of any kind, whether express, implied or statutory.

To the fullest extent permissible by applicable law, the BCDA disclaims all representation and warranties, whether express, implied or statutory (including any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy and non-infringement). The BCDA does not represent or warrant that the services or functions contained in or provided through the site will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that the site or the server that makes it available is free of viruses or other harmful components.

The information and content contained on the site are prepared by the BCDA and are believed to be accurate but are provided for informational purposes only. The BCDA does not warrant or make any representations regarding the use or the results of the use of any content in terms of completeness, correctness, accuracy, reliability, usefulness, timeliness, reliability or otherwise.

You acknowledge that your access to and use of the site and the content will not be free of interruptions, that the site and the content may contain bugs, errors, inaccuracies or other limitations, and that the site and content may be unavailable from time to time. You assume total responsibility and risk for your access to and use of the site and the content.

Limitation of Liability and Release

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable laws, the BCDA and its officers, directors, employees and representatives will not be liable to you or any other party for any damages of any kind, including indirect, special, consequential or incidental damages, lost profits, lost data, business interruption or other damages arising directly or indirectly from your use of (or your inability to use) the site or the content, including your use or reliance on any information or other content contained on the site; any inaccuracy or omission in any information or other content contained on or provided through the site, or your use of or reliance on any third-party websites linked to the site.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable laws, you release the BCDA and its officers, directors, employees and representatives from all claims, actions, liabilities and damages of any kind relating to or arising from your access to and use of (or your inability to access and use) the site or the content. If, despite the limitations set out above, the BCDA becomes liable to you resulting from your access to and use of (or your inability to access and use) the site or the content under these terms, that liability will be limited to the lesser of: (i) your direct damages; or (ii) cad$5.

Privacy Considerations

We take the privacy of confidential and personal information very seriously. Despite precautions taken to protect this information, mistakes can occur.

In the course of accessing the Site or Member Portal, including the Member Login feature, if you receive or access documents or material that you have reasonable grounds to believe were not intended for you, you agree to contact the BCDA’s Privacy Officer immediately by email at info@bcdental.org.  You further agree to delete the document or material, unread and uncopied, and advise the BCDA’s Privacy Compliance Officer that you have done so. If you read all or part of the document or material before realizing it was not intended for you, you agree to cease reading the documents and promptly return it or delete it, uncopied. You agree that you will not share the contents of the document or materials with anyone, and will advise us, to the extent to which you are aware of the contents and whether you have shared this information with anyone. 

Application of Local Laws

We operate from British Columbia Canada and make no representation that the Site or the Content are appropriate or available for use in any particular jurisdiction.  Those who access the Site or the Content from other locations do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable.

Choice of Law Jurisdiction

Except where prohibited by law, these Terms, your access to and use of the Site and the Content, and any claims made against the BCDA or its directors, officers, employees and representatives, arising out of such access or use or otherwise, will be governed by and construed and interpreted in accordance with British Columbia laws, without reference to British Columbia’s conflict of law rules.

Except where prohibited by law, you agree that exclusive jurisdiction and venue in any legal proceeding directly or indirectly arising out of or relating to the Site will be in the British Columbia courts sitting in Vancouver, British Columbia.

General

If any part of these Terms is unlawful, void or unenforceable, then that part is severable and will not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining terms. No delay or failure to act by the BCDA will impair any of the BCDA’s rights or remedies that are not expressly waived in writing.  The BCDA will not be liable for any delay or damage caused as a result of any event beyond its reasonable control.

Contact Information

For any further information, please contact us at: info@bcdental.org.