Best Dental Business Insurance

For dental practice insurance, NEXT Insurance leads our rankings with superior coverage comprehensiveness and pricing performance. It delivers extensive protection at competitive rates, making it an excellent starting point for dental offices evaluating insurance options. 

We recommend comparing options from our other top insurers, including The Hartford, Nationwide, Progressive Commercial, and biBerk.

*We based all scores on a dental business with two employees across professional liability, general liability, workers' comp and BOP policies.

Thimble offers the most competitive pricing for dental business insurance at $33 monthly overall across four of the most common coverage types, leading specifically in professional liability coverage. 

NEXT provides more affordable general liability, workers' comp and BOP insurance for dental practices seeking comprehensive protection. For specialized dental malpractice insurance, The Hartford has the lowest rates.

In general, dental business insurance costs are the following for the four most popular coverage types:

• General Liability: $22 on average per month, ranging from $19 to $25, depending on the state
• Workers Comp: $11 on average per month, ranging from $10 to $13, depending on the state
• Professional Liability (E&O): $84 on average per month, ranging from $71 to $102, depending on the state
• BOP Insurance: $32 on average per month, ranging from $27 to $37, depending on the state

Protecting your business from unexpected risks is essential when running a dental practice. The most valuable types of coverage for dental offices include general liability, professional liability, and commercial property insurance. 

Additional policies such as workers' compensation, cyber liability, employment practices liability and commercial auto insurance help satisfy legal requirements and contract obligations while providing comprehensive protection.

Below you'll find detailed information about why each coverage type matters and the recommended policy limits for dental practices of various sizes:

• Professional liability insurance (malpractice): Covers financial losses from patient claims of treatment errors, negligence or inadequate care, including misdiagnosis, procedural complications and lack of informed consent. Most dentists need $1 million per claim or $1 million to $3 million aggregate coverage to meet professional requirements.
• General liability insurance: Pays for third-party bodily injury or property damage claims. Your practice faces exposure from patient falls, damage to visitors' belongings and harm to neighboring properties. Get $1 million to $2 million per occurrence with a $2 million to $3 million aggregate policy.
• Commercial property insurance: Replaces physical assets if damaged or destroyed: your building (if owned), dental equipment, office furniture, computers and inventory. Match your coverage limit to the replacement value of your equipment.
• Workers' compensation insurance: Most states require this coverage for dental practices with employees. It pays medical bills and lost wages for work injuries like needlestick punctures, chemical exposure, carpal tunnel syndrome and back strain from patient positioning.
• Cyber liability insurance (data breach coverage): Protects practices storing electronic patient records and billing data. HIPAA compliance often requires this coverage. Most dental offices need $500,000 to $2 million in limits.
• Commercial auto insurance (if your practice uses vehicles): Get $1 million combined single limit for liability plus comprehensive and collision coverage. This meets state requirements and protects practice-owned vehicles.
• Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI): Pays legal costs when employees sue for discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment or retaliation. Legal defense alone can exceed $100,000, even for baseless claims. Practices with employees should carry $1 million to $2 million in EPLI coverage.

Follow these steps to find the right business insurance for your dental practice.

NEXT is the best insurer for dental business insurance, while Thimble offers the cheapest option overall. We also recommend getting quotes from The Hartford, Nationwide and Progressive Commercial. For the best deal, consult agents and similar businesses, research costs and companies, and compare multiple quotes.

We answer frequently asked questions about dental business insurance:

We scored dental business insurers across four factors:

• Affordability (50% of score): We compared premiums for four core coverage types using our base profile. Lower costs earned higher scores.
• Customer service (30% of score): We analyzed industry studies, customer review ratings and Reddit discussions to measure overall satisfaction.
• Coverage (15% of score): We evaluated payment flexibility and available coverage options.
• Financial stability (5% of score): We reviewed AM Best and Moody's ratings to assess each insurer's ability to pay claims.

All pricing in this article is based on the following base profile to represent the vast majority of small businesses in all states:

• Three-person business with two employees
• Coverage: $1 million per occurrence and $2 million total per year for all but BOP, which includes the same coverage plus $5,000 of business property coverage
• $150,000 in payroll
• $300,000 annual revenue