Privacy Notice

This is the website of the Commission on Dental Accreditation (“CODA”), and is hosted by the American Dental Association ("ADA"). This Privacy Notice addresses the use of information about you collected by virtue of your use of this website and ADA.org in connection with the CODA, administered under the auspices of the Commission on Dental Accreditation. This Privacy Notice does not govern personal information collected by the ADA offline or on other ADA websites or website pages having separate privacy policies or not linking to this Privacy Policy. Any data you submit on the Site will be processed in accordance with this Privacy Notice and U.S. law, which may provide different protection from the laws of the country where you are located. By providing information to us on this website and on ADA.org, you accept the terms of this Privacy Notice.

Contact Information

You may contact us about this Privacy Policy:

Via postal address:
Commission on Dental Accreditation
211 E. Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611-2637
Via e-mail : CODA staff and contact information

How We May Use Information We May Collect About You

The information we collect via this website and related areas of ADA.org is used and disclosed to process information and requests submitted to the CODA. The information may also be used to improve services to you and the content of the website.

For each visitor to this website and to ADA.org, where reasonably possible, our web server automatically recognizes only the user's internet protocol (“IP”) address, but not the e-mail address. Our system can recognize the identity of individuals who sign in using their usernames and passwords. We collect information such as the IP address of visitors to this website and ADA.org, aggregate information on what pages users access or visit, user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, and information volunteered by users. This information may be used for the purpose of understanding website usage and improving website performance. We may also collect the email addresses of those who communicate with us via email.

With respect to cookies: We use cookies for a number of purposes, including the administration of this website and of ADA.org and to record session information, such as user-specific information on what pages users access or visit. This information may be used to help learn more about site traffic patterns and to improve your experience on the website.

Advertising on ADA.org may be served through a vendor that uses IP addresses for purposes such as controlling ad frequency.

How We May Use Information We Collect

Whenever the CODA conducts research using personally identifiable data, that research is reviewed by an institutional review board, if appropriate, to help ensure the protection of the rights and welfare of research subjects. Research results include only summary or aggregate data reported in such a way that individuals cannot be identified.

From time to time, the Commission on Dental Accreditation receives requests for email distribution lists from requestors such as deans, dental faculty and affiliates of dental education programs; non-profit dental organizations; researchers; government officials (federal and state); member and non-member dentists; and other dental professionals. The CODA may supply lists for purposes such as announcements of scholarships, student competitions, association meetings, and information about licensure exams. The CODA will not supply lists for the purpose of selling a commercial product.

The CODA and the ADA may use personal information in its databases to confirm your identity for accreditation purposes or in relation to unauthorized use of ADA services, networks or intellectual property. Your personal information may be provided to government agencies or others as necessary to comply with the law or in response to legal or administrative processes such as subpoenas. Your personal information may also be used to give notice to you in relation to any unauthorized use of CODA and/or ADA services, networks or intellectual property. In addition, your personal information may be released as permitted by law if such release is deemed necessary to protect the health and safety of customers or others, or to legally protect the CODA and/or the ADA, their customers or service providers.

Your Rights

It is important when you wish to exercise your rights that you contact us via any of the means listed in the first section of this Privacy Policy.

While the ADA takes measures to protect your personal information, no security measure or network is entirely secure. Your password to access ADA.org should be complex and should never be shared with anyone, and should be changed from time to time. After you access ADA.org, you should log off and exit your browser so unauthorized persons cannot access the site.

On request, we may provide visitors to the website with access to the contact information that may be maintained about them (e.g., name, address, phone number, e-mail address and identification numbers).

On request, we may offer visitors the ability to update or correct inaccuracies in contact information or unique identifiers.

You may also contact the CODA or the ADA if you believe your information is being used for purposes other than those for which it was originally collected.

More About Our Privacy Practices

With respect to other websites and servers: This website and ADA.org contains links to other websites. We have no control over and take no responsibility for the privacy practices or content of those sites.

We use Doubleclick for Publishers (DFP) Small Business to serve ads on our site.

When users choose to make payments via credit cards, they do so on the website of a third party service provider. We do not store or reuse credit card information unless you have given us your credit card information directly and authorized us to do so.

Changes, Comments and Questions

If our Privacy notice changes at some time in the future we will post the revised notice to our website and changes will be effective on the day that we post the revised notice. The latest version of the Privacy Notice will always be available on this website. If you are concerned about how your information may be used, please check back on this website periodically.

Your comments or questions about our Privacy Notice and privacy practices are welcomed. If you feel that this site is not following its stated policy, please contact us.