Cookie Policy
Last updated on November 10, 2026
What This Policy Covers
This policy explains the cookies and similar storage used on the Fredal Orthodontics website, what each one does, how long it stays on a device, and how a visitor can change their choice at any time. The list below is the one the website’s services set as they were configured on November 10, 2026.
This policy covers the website only. Health information collected during treatment at the Shelby Township office is protected health information and is handled under HIPAA. The Privacy Policy explains how the practice collects, uses and protects patient information.
What a Cookie Is
A cookie is a small text file that a website asks a browser to store. On a return visit the browser sends the file back, so the site can recognize the same browser. Some cookies come from Fredal Orthodontics, and some come from other companies whose services appear on a page.
Websites can also store information without a cookie, using browser storage that stays on the device until it is cleared. Where the site does that, it is listed in this policy alongside the cookies.
How Consent Works on This Site
On a first visit, a banner asks whether the site may run its optional tools. It offers two choices with equal weight: Accept or Reject. There is no close button, and nothing optional runs until one of them is pressed.
Until that question is answered, no statistics or marketing cookie is set and no measurement or advertising tool loads. Scrolling, clicking or continuing to browse is not treated as consent, and the banner does not go away on its own.
If a browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, the practice treats it as a refusal on every page: nothing optional runs, and the banner is not shown while that signal is on.
The answer is kept in one cookie set by this website, so the banner does not have to ask again on every page, and a consent record is kept by the practice so it can show what was chosen and when. An acceptance is remembered for a year; a refusal is not asked about again for a year either. After that the banner asks again.
A visitor can change their mind at any time on the Your Privacy Choices page, linked in the footer of every page. Clearing cookies in the browser also clears the answer, and the banner asks again on the next visit.
What Loads Before a Choice Is Made
A few services load because the page needs them, and none of them set a statistics or marketing cookie:
- Cloudflare, which protects the site from automated traffic and may set one short-lived security cookie when it checks a visit.
- Reviewer pictures. Pages that show patient reviews from Google show each reviewer’s profile picture through Orthodynamo, the company that builds and maintains this website. Loading a picture sends the visitor’s IP address to Orthodynamo’s server; it sets no cookie.
- Nothing from Google. Google Tag Manager, the container that carries Google Analytics and Google Ads, does not load until the banner is accepted. The site’s fonts are stored on this website, and its maps are pictures it draws itself, so before a choice Google receives nothing from this site.
What Accept Turns On
Always on. The cookie the site needs to remember the answer to the banner, and the browser storage that keeps a refusal safe while it is being saved. These are always on, because without them the site cannot record a refusal. The site sets no other preference cookies.
Statistics. Google Analytics, used to count visits and see which pages are read and where visitors have difficulty, acting on the practice’s instructions only. It runs only after Accept; before that it receives nothing.
Marketing. Google Ads conversion measurement, which records that a visit that began with a Google advertisement led to a tap on the phone number, a scheduling or chat button, or a consultation request, so the practice can see which advertisements help patients find it. It sets cookies and records conversions only after Accept; before that it receives nothing. The practice does not run remarketing or social media advertising pixels.
One Accept turns on both, and one Reject keeps both off. The Your Privacy Choices page shows the current answer and lets a visitor change it.
Always-On Cookies
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| __cf_bm | Cloudflare | Tells real visitors apart from automated traffic; set only when Cloudflare checks a visit | 30 minutes |
| __Host-od_consent | This website | Records the answer given to the privacy banner, when it was given and when it runs out, so the banner does not ask on every page | Up to 1 year |
| od_rf (browser storage) | This website | Keeps a refusal safe while it is being written to the cookie; removed once it has been | Until it has been applied |
| od_consent_wc (browser storage) | This website | A counter that lets the site tell a newer answer from an older one when two tabs are open | Until the browser’s storage is cleared |
| od_ck (browser storage) | This website | A short-lived token for one press of a banner button, removed once that press has been recorded | Until it has been used |
Statistics Cookies (After Consent)
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| _ga | Google Analytics | Tells visits apart with a random identifier | Up to 2 years |
| _ga_TKGXCYYSGC | Google Analytics | Keeps the state of the current visit | Up to 2 years |
Marketing Cookies (After Consent)
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| _gcl_au | Google Ads | Connects a visit to the advertisement click that started it | 90 days |
| _gcl_aw | Google Ads | Keeps the advertisement click identifier when a visitor arrives from an advertisement | 90 days |
| Google’s own cookies | Google (google.com, doubleclick.net) | Set on Google’s domains when a conversion is recorded, under Google’s own policy | Set by Google |
Services a Visitor Opens Themselves
Chat. The chat button offers a chat on the page or a text message to the office. The chat is provided by Podium, a messaging service for healthcare and local businesses, and its tool loads only when a visitor chooses to chat. Because the visitor asks for it, it does not wait for the banner. Once loaded, Podium keeps two identifiers in this website’s browser storage (podium-website-widget-user-id and podium-website-widget-session-id) so the conversation carries on from page to page, and LaunchDarkly, a service Podium uses to switch its features on and off, keeps one diagnostics entry there. Anything typed into the chat goes to Podium. A visitor who prefers not to use it can call or text the office at (586) 544-4440.
Online booking. The free consultation page offers online booking from Ortho2, the practice’s scheduling software. Nothing loads from Ortho2 until a visitor presses "Open booking". Then the booking page loads from Ortho2, which receives the visitor’s IP address, browser details and the details they enter to book. That page also loads Google Maps, to suggest addresses while the visitor types theirs, and a Cloudflare check that a person, not a program, is booking; both receive the visitor’s IP address and browser details. A visitor who prefers not to use it can call or text the office at (586) 544-4440.
Forms. The contact form is the website’s own. It sets no cookies and uses no outside spam service.
Cost calculator. The braces and Invisalign cost pages show a payment calculator that runs on this website. It shows a starting estimate without any personal details and sets no cookies. A visitor who would like the practice to follow up can send the estimate to the office by email from the calculator.
Maps. The contact and area pages show a map picture that this website draws itself from OpenStreetMap data, with a pin on the office. Nothing loads from Google or from OpenStreetMap in the visitor’s browser, so the map needs no consent. "Get Directions" and the Google Maps links are ordinary links that open Google only when tapped.
Managing Cookies in the Browser
Cookies can also be controlled in the browser itself, separately from the choice made on this site. Every browser can block or delete cookies, and most can block third-party cookies while keeping first-party ones:
Blocking cookies in the browser does not stop the site from working, but it does clear the answer given to the cookie banner, so the banner asks again.
Changes to This Policy
This policy is updated when the services on the website change. The date at the top of the page shows the most recent review. When a change adds a new service, or changes what the banner says, the banner asks again so the choice is made against the current list.
Contact Fredal Orthodontics
Fredal Orthodontics
7827 25 Mile Rd, Shelby Township, MI 48316
(586) 544-4440
info@fredalortho.com
Questions about this policy, about the consent record kept for a visit (the Your Privacy Choices page shows the consent ID to quote), or about anything else on this page can go to the office.