DR. GANß
+ KOLLEGEN Appointment online

Data Protection

Privacy Settings

Your data as a patient at the practice

Below you will find information about the collection of personal data when using our website. Personal data includes all data that can be related to you personally (e.g. name, address, email addresses, user behaviour, IP address).

Name and contact details of the controller and the company data protection officer in accordance with Article 4(7) of the GDPR

This data protection information applies to data processing by:

Responsible:

Dental practice
Dr. med. dent. Nikolas Ganss + colleagues
Deutzer Freiheit 103
50679 Cologne
Telephone: 0221 88 88 490
Fax: 0221 88 88 492 9
Email: info@zahnarzt-deutz.de

You can contact the relevant data protection officer(s) at:

Data Protection Officer
Dr Nikolas Ganss

dsb@zahnarzt-deutz.de

Security and protection of your personal data

We consider it our primary responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of the personal data you provide and to protect it from unauthorised access. We therefore take the utmost care and apply state-of-the-art security standards to ensure maximum protection of your personal data.

As a private-law company, we are subject to the provisions of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the regulations of the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). We have taken technical and organisational measures to ensure that the data protection regulations are observed both by us and by our external service providers.

Definitions

The legislator requires that personal data be processed in a lawful manner, in good faith and in a manner that is comprehensible to the data subject (“lawfulness, processing in good faith, transparency”). To ensure this, we inform you about the individual legal definitions that are also used in this privacy policy:

Personal data

“Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter referred to as “data subject”); A natural person is considered identifiable if they can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by association with an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or one or more special characteristics that express the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.

Processing

“Processing” means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, distribution or any other form of provision, comparison or linking, restriction, erasure or destruction.

Restriction of processing

„Einschränkung der Verarbeitung“ ist die Markierung gespeicherter personenbezogener Daten mit dem Ziel, ihre künftige Verarbeitung einzuschränken.

Profiling

„Profiling“ ist jede Art der automatisierten Verarbeitung personenbezogener Daten, die darin besteht, dass diese personenbezogenen Daten verwendet werden, um bestimmte persönliche Aspekte, die sich auf eine natürliche Person beziehen, zu bewerten, insbesondere um Aspekte bezüglich Arbeitsleistung, wirtschaftliche Lage, Gesundheit, persönliche Vorlieben, Interessen, Zuverlässigkeit, Verhalten, Aufenthaltsort oder Ortswechsel dieser natürlichen Person zu analysieren oder vorherzusagen.

Pseudonymisation

“Pseudonymisation” means the processing of personal data in such a manner that the personal data can no longer be attributed to a specific data subject without the use of additional information, provided that such additional information is kept separately and is subject to technical and organisational measures to ensure that the personal data is not attributed to an identified or identifiable natural person.

File system

“File system” means any structured collection of personal data accessible according to specific criteria, regardless of whether this collection is centralised, decentralised or organised according to functional or geographical criteria.

Person in charge

“Controller” means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data; where the purposes and means of such processing are determined by Union or Member State law, the controller or the specific criteria for its nomination may be provided for by Union or Member State law.

Processor

“Processor” means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller.

Recipient

“Recipient” means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or another body, to which the personal data are disclosed, whether a third party or not. However, public authorities which may receive personal data in the framework of a particular inquiry in accordance with Union or Member State law shall not be regarded as recipients; the processing of those data by those public authorities shall be in compliance with the applicable data protection rules according to the purposes of the processing.

Third party

“Third party” means any natural or legal person, public authority, agency or any other body other than the data subject, controller, processor and persons who, under the direct authority of the controller or processor, are authorised to process personal data.

Consent

“Consent” of the data subject means any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her.

Lawfulness of processing

The processing of personal data is only lawful if there is a legal basis for the processing. In accordance with Article 6(1)(a) to (f) of the GDPR, the legal basis for processing may include, in particular:

  • The data subject has given consent to the processing of their personal data for one or more specific purposes;
  • processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract;
  • processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject;
  • processing is necessary to protect the vital interests of the data subject or another natural person;
  • processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller;

processing is necessary to safeguard the legitimate interests of the controller or a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child.

Information on the collection of personal data

(1) Below, we provide information about the collection of personal data when using our website. We collect, store, use, transfer or delete the following personal data:

  • Interested parties visiting our website and patients of our practice who are natural persons
  • All other natural persons who are in contact with our practice (e.g. authorised representatives of patients, legal guardians of patients, employees of legal entities, visitors to our website)

Personal data includes, for example, name, address, email addresses and user behaviour. We only process personal data to the extent necessary to provide this website and the content and services we offer.

(2) When you contact us by telephone, email or via a contact form, we store the data you provide (your email address, your name and telephone number, if applicable) in order to answer your questions. We will delete the data collected in this context once it is no longer necessary to store it, or processing will be restricted if there are legal retention obligations. This data will not be made available to third parties.

(3) We only collect information about children if they are presented as patients in our practice by their legal guardians.

(4) Insofar as we use contracted service providers for individual functions of our website or wish to use your data for advertising purposes, we will inform you in detail about the respective processes below.

Contact by Email

If you contact us by e-mail, the personal data you provide in your e-mail will be stored.

The data will be used exclusively to answer your questions. Unless explicitly stated in this privacy policy, the data will not be passed on to third parties. We also record your IP address and the time of submission.

The processing of the above personal data is solely for the purpose of handling your enquiries.

This is also where our legitimate interest in processing your personal data lies. If you have given us your consent for this, the legal basis for processing this data is Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. Otherwise, the legal basis for processing this data is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR, in particular if you send us the data by email. If you wish to conclude a contract by sending us an email, Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR provides an additional legal basis.

The data will be deleted as soon as we have finally processed your enquiry, subject to statutory retention periods. If you contact us by e-mail, you can object to the storage of your personal data at any time. Please note that in this case your enquiry cannot be processed further. You can declare your revocation or objection by sending an email to our email address given in the legal notice.

Collection of personal data when visiting our website

When you use the website for informational purposes only, i.e. if you do not register or otherwise provide us with information, we only collect the personal data that your browser transmits to our server. If you wish to view our website, we collect the following data, which is technically necessary for us to display our website to you and to ensure stability and security (the legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR):

  • IP address
  • Date and time of the enquiry
  • Time zone difference from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
  • Content of the request (specific page)
  • Access status/HTTP status code
  • amount of data transferred
  • Website from which the request originates
  • Browser
  • Operating system and its interface
  • Language and version of the browser software.

Your rights

You have the following rights with regard to the data we store about you:

  • Right to rectification and erasure
  • Right to information
  • Right to restriction of processing
  • Right to data portability
  • Right to object to processing

You have the option of contacting the data protection supervisory authority responsible for us with any complaints relating to data processing:

State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information North Rhine-Westphalia
Helga Block

PO Box 20 04 44 40102 Düsseldorf

oder:

Kavalleriestraße 2-4 40213 Düsseldorf

Rights of data subjects

(1) You have the right to request confirmation as to whether the data in question is being processed and to obtain information about this data, as well as further information and a copy of the data in accordance with Art. 15 GDPR.

(2) In accordance with Art. 16 GDPR, you have the right to request the completion of data concerning you or the correction of inaccurate data concerning you.

(3) In accordance with Article 17 of the GDPR, you have the right to request that the data in question be deleted immediately or, alternatively, in accordance with Article 18 of the GDPR, to request that the processing of the data be restricted.

(4) You have the right to request that the data concerning you that you have provided to us be retained in accordance with Article 20 of the GDPR and to request that it be transferred to other controllers.

(5) Pursuant to Article 77 of the GDPR, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority.

Right of withdrawal

You have the right to withdraw your consent in accordance with Art. 7(3) GDPR with effect for the future.

Right of objection

You may object to the future processing of your data at any time in accordance with Article 21 of the GDPR. In particular, you may object to the processing of your data for direct marketing purposes.

Use of cookies

(1) In addition to the aforementioned data, cookies are stored on your computer when you use our website. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your hard drive and assigned to the browser you are using, and through which certain information flows to the entity that sets the cookie. Cookies cannot execute programmes or transfer viruses to your computer. They serve to make the Internet offering more user-friendly and effective overall.

(2) This website uses the following types of cookies, the scope and functionality of which are explained below:

  • Transient cookies (see 1.)
  • Persistent cookies (see 2.)
  1. Transient cookies are automatically deleted when you close your browser. These include, in particular, session cookies. These store a so-called session ID, which can be used to assign various requests from your browser to the shared session. This allows your computer to be recognised when you return to our website. Session cookies are deleted when you log out or close your browser.
  2. Persistent cookies are automatically deleted after a specified period, which may vary depending on the cookie. You can delete cookies at any time in your browser’s security settings.

You can configure your browser settings according to your preferences and, for example, refuse to accept third-party cookies or all cookies. Third-party cookies are cookies that are set by a third party, i.e. not by the website you are currently visiting. Please note that by deactivating cookies, you may not be able to use all the functions of this website.

Server-Log-Files

The provider of the pages automatically collects and stores information in so-called server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us. These are:

  • Browser type and browser version
  • operating system used
  • Referrer URL
  • Host name of the accessing computer
  • Time of server request

This data cannot be attributed to specific individuals. This data is not merged with other data sources. We reserve the right to subsequently review this data if we become aware of specific indications of illegal use.

Data security

This site uses SSL encryption for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as requests you send to us as the site operator. You can recognise an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of the browser changes from “http://” to “https://” and by the lock symbol in your browser line.

When SSL encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

Google-Re/Marketing-Services

Based on our legitimate interests (i.e. interest in the analysis, optimisation and economic operation of our online offering within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR), we use the marketing and remarketing services (in short, “Google Marketing Services”) of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA, (“Google”).

Google is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement and thus offers a guarantee of compliance with European data protection law (https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active).

Google Marketing Services allow us to display advertisements for and on our website in a more targeted manner, so that users are only shown advertisements that potentially match their interests. If, for example, a user is shown advertisements for products that they have shown interest in on other websites, this is referred to as “remarketing”. For these purposes, when our website and other websites on which Google Marketing Services are active are accessed, a code from Google is executed directly by Google and so-called (re)marketing tags (invisible graphics or code, also known as “web beacons”) are integrated into the website. With their help, an individual cookie, i.e. a small file, is stored on the user’s device (comparable technologies can also be used instead of cookies). The cookies can be set by various domains, including google.com, doubleclick.net, invitemedia.com, admeld.com, googlesyndication.com or googleadservices.com. This file records which websites the user has visited, which content they are interested in and which offers they have clicked on, as well as technical information about the browser and operating system, referring websites, visit time and other information about the use of the online offer. The IP address of the user is also recorded, whereby we inform you within the scope of Google Analytics that the IP address is truncated within member states of the European Union or in other signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area and only in exceptional cases is it transferred in full to a Google server in the USA and truncated there. The IP address is not merged with user data within other Google services. The above information may also be linked by Google to information from other sources. When the user subsequently visits other websites, advertisements tailored to their interests may be displayed.

User data is processed pseudonymously within the framework of Google Marketing Services. This means that Google does not store and process the name or email address of users, for example, but processes the relevant data in relation to cookies within pseudonymous user profiles. This means that, from Google’s perspective, the ads are not managed and displayed for a specifically identified person, but for the cookie owner, regardless of who that cookie owner is. This does not apply if a user has expressly permitted Google to process the data without this pseudonymisation. The information collected by Google Marketing Services about users is transmitted to Google and stored on Google’s servers in the USA.

Google Adwords Conversion Tracking

The Google marketing services we use include the online advertising programme “Google AdWords”. Google AdWords places a cookie (see section 4) on your computer if you have accessed our website via a Google advertisement.

These cookies expire after 30 days and are not used for personal identification. If the user visits certain pages of the AdWords customer’s website and the cookie has not yet expired, Google and the customer can recognise that the user clicked on the ad and was redirected to this page.

Each AdWords customer receives a different cookie. Cookies cannot therefore be tracked across the websites of AdWords customers. The information collected using the conversion cookie is used to generate conversion statistics for AdWords customers who have opted for conversion tracking. AdWords customers learn the total number of users who clicked on their ad and were redirected to a page tagged with a conversion tracking tag. However, they do not receive any information that can be used to personally identify users.

If you do not wish to participate in the tracking process, you can also refuse the necessary cookie setting – for example, by changing your browser settings to disable the automatic setting of cookies in general. You can also disable cookies for conversion tracking by setting your browser to block cookies from the domain “www.googleadservices.com”. Google’s privacy policy on conversion tracking can be found here (https://services.google.com/sitestats/de.html).

Google Optimizer

We can also use the Google Optimizer service. Google Optimizer allows us to use A/B testing to understand how various changes to a website affect its performance (e.g. changes to input fields, design, etc.). Cookies are stored on users’ devices for these testing purposes. Only pseudonymous user data is processed.

For more information on Google’s use of data for marketing purposes, please visit the overview page: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads. Google’s privacy policy is available at https://policies.google.com/privacy.

If you wish to object to interest-based advertising by Google Marketing Services, you can use the settings and opt-out options provided by Google: https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Ireland Limited, Google Building Gordon House, Barrow St, Dublin 4, Ireland (hereinafter referred to as “Google”) on our website. Google uses cookies, which are small text files stored on your device that enable analysis of your use of our website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of our website is usually transferred to a Google server and stored there. If anonymisation of the IP address to be transmitted by the cookie is activated on the website (“IP anonymisation”), your IP address will be truncated by Google within member states of the European Union or in other signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transferred to a Google server outside the EU and truncated there. Google will use this information on our behalf to evaluate your use of our website, compile reports on website activity and provide us with other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Pseudonymous usage profiles may be created from the processed data. The IP address transmitted when using Google Analytics will not be merged with other Google data.

We only use Google Analytics with the IP anonymisation feature enabled as described above. This means that your IP address will only be processed by Google in truncated form. This prevents any personal references from being made.

We use Google Analytics for the purpose of analysing the use of our website and continuously improving individual functions and offers as well as the user experience. By statistically evaluating user behaviour, we can improve our offer and make it more interesting for you as a user. The legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a) GDPR (consent).

You can also prevent the storage of cookies generated by Google Analytics by adjusting the settings in your web browser. Please note that in this case you may not be able to use all the functions of our website. If you wish to prevent the collection of data generated by the cookie and related to your user behaviour (including your IP address) and the processing of this data by Google, you can also download and install the web browser plugin available at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.

In order to oblige Google to process the transmitted data only in accordance with our instructions and in compliance with the applicable data protection regulations, we have concluded a data processing agreement with Google.

Third-party information: Google Ireland Limited, Google Building Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland

Further information on data usage by Google, settings and objection options, and data protection can be found on the following Google web pages:

  • Terms of use: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/de/
  • Overview of data protection: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de&ref_topic=2919631
  • Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de&gl=en
  • Data usage by Google when you use our partners’ websites or apps: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites?hl=de
  • Use of data for advertising purposes: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads?hl=de
  • Settings for personalised advertising by Google: https://adssettings.google.de

The data will be deleted as soon as it is no longer required for the purpose for which it was collected.

Google Tag Manager

We use Google Tag Manager, a service provided by Google Ireland Limited, Google Building Gordon House, Barrow St, Dublin 4, Ireland (hereinafter referred to as “Google”), on our website. Google Tag Manager enables us, as marketers, to manage website tags via an interface. The Google Tag Manager tool, which implements the tags, is a cookie-free domain and does not itself collect any personal data. Google Tag Manager triggers other tags, which may in turn collect data. Google Tag Manager does not access this data. If deactivation has been carried out at domain or cookie level, this remains in place for all tracking tags implemented with Google Tag Manager.

Third-party information: Google Ireland Limited, Google Building Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland

Further information on data protection can be found on the following Google web pages:

  • Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de&gl=en
  • FAQ Google Tag Manager: https://www.google.com/intl/de/tagmanager/faq.html
  • Google Tag Manager Terms of Service: https://www.google.com/intl/de/tagmanager/use-policy.html

Facebook-Pixel

We use “Facebook Pixel” on our website, a service provided by Facebook Inc., 1601 S California Ave, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA (hereinafter referred to as “Facebook”). Facebook Pixel enables Facebook to display our advertisements on Facebook, known as “Facebook Ads”, only to Facebook users who have visited our website, in particular those who have shown interest in our online offering or in specific topics or products. Facebook Pixel enables us to check whether a user has been redirected to our website after clicking on our Facebook Ads. Facebook Pixel uses cookies, among other things, which are small text files that are stored locally in the cache of your web browser on your device. If you are logged into Facebook with your user account, your visit to our online offering will be noted in your user account. The data collected about you is anonymous to us, so it does not allow us to draw any conclusions about the identity of users. However, this data can be linked to your user account on Facebook. We have no influence on the scope and further use of data collected by Facebook through the use of Facebook Pixel. To the best of our knowledge, Facebook receives the information that you have accessed the relevant part of our website or clicked on one of our advertisements. If you have a Facebook user account and are registered, Facebook can assign the visit to your user account. Even if you are not registered with Facebook or have not logged in, it is possible that Facebook may obtain and store your IP address and, if applicable, other identifying features.

We use Facebook Pixel for marketing and optimisation purposes, in particular to display relevant and interesting advertisements on Facebook and thus improve our offering, make it more interesting for you as a user and avoid annoying advertisements. This is also our legitimate interest in processing the above data.

You can object to the aforementioned collection by Facebook Pixel and the use of your data for the display of Facebook ads. You can adjust your settings regarding the types of advertisements displayed to you on Facebook on the following Facebook website: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads. Please note that this setting will be deleted if you delete your cookies. In addition, you can deactivate cookies used for reach measurement and advertising purposes via the following websites:

  • http://optout.networkadvertising.org/
  • http://www.aboutads.info/choices
  • http://www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/your-ad-choices/

Please note that this setting will also be deleted if you delete your cookies.

Third-party information: Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland. Further information on data protection from the third-party provider can be found on the following Facebook website: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy.

Information about Facebook pixels can be found on the following Facebook website: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/651294705016616

Matelso

Our website uses a service provided by Matelso GmbH, Stuttgart. When you call a number provided by Matelso on our behalf, information about the call is transferred to a web analytics service we use (e.g. Google Analytics). Matelso also reads cookies set by our analytics service or other parameters of the website you visit, such as referrer, document path, remote user agent. The relevant information is processed by Matelso in accordance with our instructions and stored on servers in the EU. For more information, please visit: https://www.matelso.de/privacy. You can prevent the storage of cookies by adjusting your browser software settings accordingly; however, we would like to point out that in this case you may not be able to use all the functions of this website to their full extent.

Heyflow

We use the services of Heyflow GmbH, Jungfernstieg 49, 20354 Hamburg, Germany (“Heyflow”) to create and use flows. Heyflow processes personal data collected via Flows exclusively on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions on the basis of a data processing agreement. Heyflow uses the server hosting service “Google Cloud Platform” from Google LLC and the cloud computing service “Amazon Web Services” (“AWS”) from Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL.

Heyflow services, including personal data collected via Flows, are hosted and processed exclusively on servers in the EU. Heyflow enables us to integrate various third-party applications and tools into Flows via technical interfaces and to link Flows to various third-party applications and tools.

Further information on data processing using Heyflow can be found at: https://heyflow.app/de/datenschutz/

Current status and amendments to this privacy policy

This privacy policy is currently valid and was last updated in April 2025.

Due to the further development of our website and offers on it, or due to changes in legal or regulatory requirements, it may be necessary to amend this privacy policy. You can access and print out the current privacy policy at any time on the website at https://www.zahnarzt-deutz.de/datenschutz.