5 Best Business Insurance for Dental Offices for 2023

From caring for patients to storing sensitive dental, insurance and payment records online, dental practices face a wider range of risks than almost any other type of business. Many businesses only have to purchase insurance for simple things like property damage and employee injuries. Dentists typically need coverage for a wide range of risk including malpractice, damaged patient records, employee theft, and being unable to serve patients because of an unexpected event. 

In this article, we’ll reveal the top five providers of business insurance for dentists and explain all the types of coverages dental practices often purchase.

• Top 5 dental business insurance providers
• Who needs dental business insurance?
• What coverages do dentists and other dental professionals need?
• What insurance do I need for dental business employees?
• What other coverages do dentists and dental practices get?
• How much does dental office’s business insurance cost?
• How to find cheap dental office’s business insurance?

Top 5 dental business insurance providers

• CoverWallet: Best for dentists who want to compare dental business insurance quotes
• Dentist’s Advantage: A firm focused on coverage for dentists
• The Hartford: Best for dentists looking for a sound and ethical insurer
• THREE: One of the few all-in-one business insurers that offer dentist business coverage
• Simply Business: Best brokerage firm to work with to find low-cost coverage

CoverWallet: Best for dentists who want to compare dental business insurance quotes

CoverWallet makes it easy to compare insurance quotes from several providers within minutes all on one screen. How is CoverWallet able to do this? 

CoverWallet is a cutting-edge insurance provider. The firm has developed its proprietary state-of-the-art platform, based on its own algorithms, to ensure it is able to connect dentists and dental practices with all the business insurance they need at a fair price. 

The firm’s experts have used their extensive experience to make sure you only have to input the information needed to generate quick and accurate quotes. The entire process should take less than ten minutes.

You can feel confident knowing that CoverWallet is a part of Aon, an established company that provides advice to businesses on things like risk, health, and retirement.

Once you get your quote, CoverWallet makes it easy to purchase a dental business policy or a complete business insurance package online or through an agent. When you get your dental business insurance through CoverWallet, it’s simple to manage your coverage online, including downloading a certificate of insurance, filing a claim, renewing your policy, and more. 

Dentist’s Advantage: A firm focused on coverage for dentists

Dentist’s Advantage offers business and other coverage exclusively for dentists and dental practices — from new grads to highly experienced professionals. 

One of the things that makes Dentist’s Advantage stand out is it’s complete offering of newsletters, webinars, reports, and other tools that can help you keep your practice safe, by taking steps to prevent insurance claims. 

Dentist’s Advantage makes it easy to make a claim online or to get help from an experienced professional. 

The Hartford: Best for dentists looking for a sound and ethical insurer

The Hartford is one of the oldest companies of any kind in the United States. It’s been offering insurance solutions for more than 200 years and has helped one million plus businesses with their insurance needs. The company takes pride in the fact that the Ethisphere Institute named The Hartford a World’s Most Ethical Company twelve times. The Hartford’s longevity and focus on ethical business practices makes it a company that you can feel good about doing business with.

The Hartford’s dedicated and highly experienced small business team is available to help dentists explore their dental business insurance options. If you decide to purchase insurance from The Hartford, you can rest assured knowing you’re entrusting your practice to a strong, stable, knowledgeable and ethical provider.

Here is a sample of a quote from The Hartford.

THREE: One of the few all-in-one business insurers that offer dentist business coverage

If you prefer a single source for all your business insurance, THREE could be the solution for you. It protects all aspects of a business, including people, property and operations, in a single comprehensive business insurance policy. 

THREE makes protecting a dental practice easy.

You can also rest assured knowing that THREE is a part of the solid and established Berkshire Hathaway family of companies.

Simply Business: Best brokerage firm to find low-cost coverage

Simply Business is a broker specializing in small business insurance. They work with many carriers with a focus to help you find low-cost coverage that your business may need. They vet the carriers that they work with carefully to ensure that all of them have excellent financial ratings. They select the carriers that can offer low-cost coverage even if these carriers may not be well-known and small businesses may not have access to them otherwise.

Pros:

• Easy to get and compare several quotes online
• Able to get quotes from A-rated carriers which you may not be aware of and offer low cost
• Knowledgeable agents that are available to help you along the process

Cons:

• If you prefer a particular carrier that Simply Business doesn’t work with, you may need to look elsewhere
• Have to file a claim directly with the carriers

Who needs dental business insurance?

Dental business insurance could be a good idea for the following individuals and groups:

• Individual dentists and dental practices
• Dental hygienists
• General dentists
• Endodontists
• Oral surgeons
• Orthodontists
• Pedodontists
• Periodontists
• Prothodontists
• And more.

Consult with an insurance agent experienced in coverage for dentists or an insurance company representative to find out if you should get dental business insurance.

What coverages do dentists and other dental professionals need?

Most individual dental practitioners and practices typically purchase a Business Owners Policy (BOP). A BOP includes three essential dental business coverages in a single policy and makes it easy to add additional insurance that you may need. Learn more at the best BOP insurance companies.

The three core coverages are:

• General liability insurance covers you and your business if someone is injured on your property for non-dental reasons. Example: A patient slips and falls in your lobby and breaks a leg. General liability insurance would pay for their medical care. Learn more at the best general liability insurance companies
• Business property insurance protects your business office space, whether you rent or own it. The coverage will pay for repairs from damage caused by things like fire or weather events. It will also pay for damage to or theft of office equipment including computers, dental lighting systems, sterilization equipment, tools and instruments — everything you need to keep your dental practice up and running. Learn more at the best commercial property insurance companies
• Business income insurance will pay lost income if you cannot open your office and serve patients because of a reason covered by your business property insurance, such as fire damage or theft of dental equipment. Learn more at the best business income interruption insurance companies

What insurance do I need for dental business employees?

Here are two types of insurance you probably need:

Dental malpractice insurance for dentists and dental hygienists

Dental malpractice insurance covers you and the people who work for you if you’re sued by a patient because someone made a mistake while providing professional dental services and they’re harmed because of it. Dental malpractice insurance pays legal and settlement costs. It can also cover you and the people who work for you are called before a review board and you need to hire legal representation. Learn more at the best dental malpractice insurance companies and cost for dentists and the best malpractice insurance providers for dental hygienists.

Workers’ compensation insurance for dental office employees

Workers compensation insurance will pay for medical care, disability benefits and lost wages if an employee is injured or becomes ill for work related reasons. It can also pay funeral costs if someone dies because of an on the job incident. A common example of this for people working in dental offices are needle prick accidents. This is when office personnel stick themselves with a needle after it’s used on a patient. A solid workers’ compensation policy will pay for testing the employee and cover medical care if they become ill because of the needle prick. Learn more at the best workers compensation insurance companies.

What other coverages do dentists and dental practices get?

Some common ones include: 

• Business income insurance for potable water. Dentists depend on water to do their work. This coverage will pay for lost income if your practice is unable to open and serve patients because your water supply becomes contaminated.
• Employment practices liability insurance. This covers you if an employee or contractor sues you or your business for discrimination or sexual harassment.
• Cyber insurance. Dental offices store a lot of confidential — and valuable — patient and employee data on their computers and servers. This insurance will pay costs related to a data hack or theft — or a ransomware attack. Learn more at the best cyber insurance companies and the best data breach insurance companies
• Lost records coverage. This will pay to replace or restore patient or employee files or records that get damaged, are lost or stolen.

How much does dental office’s business insurance cost?

The cost can vary based on many factors including: 

• Size of practice
• Employee experience
• Types of risks faced
• Number and size of properties
• Annual payroll and revenue
• Types and levels of coverage
• Claims history
• And more.

What’s important is that you get quotes from multiple insurance providers to ensure you get the coverage you need at the best possible policy price.

How to find cheap dental office business insurance?

There are a few ways to find the coverage you need at a fair price:

• Shop around for the best value. Get quotes from a few companies and compare coverages and costs to find the best combination of the two. 
• Don’t stop shopping around. Make sure you get new quotes when it comes time to renew your policy.
• Safety first: Make sure you implement all safety standards and best practices for you and your employees, follow the standard procedures, and maintain good documentation. All of these will help reduce the chance of malpractice law suits and having employees getting injured at work, which will reduce the cost of malpractice and workers comp insurance.
• Take advantage of discounts. If they’re not offered to you when getting a quote, ask about them, whether you’re buying online or through an agent.

Taking these steps will help ensure you’re not paying too much for your dental office business insurance.