Insurance for dentists
When it comes to insurance, we don't want you to simply go with the flow. Which is why at Guild, we're constantly evolving to reflect the real-life needs of dentists like you.
Join Guild Insurance today and choose to be protected by an insurer that's worked hand in hand with ADA NSW, ADA SA, ADAVB and ADATAS for over 25 years.
Professional indemnity and liability
Protects you for what you do as a dentist.
Business
insurance
Protects your dental practice and items in it.
Professional indemnity insurance covers you for your civil liability when a claim arises from a breach of your professional duty. For many professional policies at Guild Insurance combine professional indemnity, public liability, and product liability to cover more of your professional duties. Business insurance, on the other hand, is a broader category that encompasses various types of coverage designed to protect businesses from a wide range of risks. This can include property damage, theft, and liability claims from third parties.
For professionals providing advice or services:
- Assess your service risk: Evaluate the potential risks associated with your professional advice or services. Consider the possibility and implications of your advice or actions leading to a client's physical, psychological, or financial detriment. Reflect on the likelihood and consequences of a situation where an error or omission on your part could lead to legal action.
- Understand legal requirements: Familiarise yourself with the legal and regulatory landscape relevant to your profession. Is holding professional indemnity insurance a legal requirement or an industry standard in your field?
For certain contract positions and many allied health professionals regulated under Ahpra require professional indemnity and/or public liability insurance. - Consider your financial exposure: If faced with a legal claim, could you afford the legal defence and potential damages out of pocket?
For business owners protecting their operations:
- Identify your business assets: Determine which physical assets are crucial to your business operations, such as property, equipment, and inventory. Consider the consequences if these assets were damaged, stolen or lost.
- Evaluate liability risks: How likely is it that someone could be injured or their property damaged because of your business activities? This includes both public liability and product liability.
- Consider business interruptions: Think about the resilience of your business in the face of unforeseen events that might force temporary closure. How would such interruptions impact your financial stability?
If you are unsure of the cover you require, please contact us on 1800 810 213 to speak to an insurance specialist.
Key Product Features
Discover the limits and coverage built in to every Guild dentist liabilities policy.
Renewal FAQs
See the latest frequently asked questions and information for renewals in 2025.
Association Endorsed
Find out more about our long standing partnership with several branches of the ADA.
Hear from other dentists
01/09/2024
The support and guidance is very good. They helped me through it with patience.
01/07/2024
Simple and comprehensive. I wouldn’t choose anyone else for insurance.
01/01/2025
I have compared you with few other insurances but yet to find a good company like Guild!
Working with over 130 associations
Insuring Australians for over 60 years
100% Australian owned
Learn how Dentists avoid claims with RiskHQ
Orthodontics and general dentists – what are the risks?
Guild Insurance and our claims experience
Guild Insurance regularly analyses its claims data to gain an understanding of the risks faced by dentists insured with us. This information is then used to create risk messages to assist those dentists to manage their risks.
Guild’s claims data shows that general dentists performing orthodontic treatment are at a high risk of receiving a complaint. The likelihood of a claim against a general dentist who undertakes orthodontic work is almost twice that for a general dentist who doesn’t do orthodontic work.
Guild isn’t suggesting general dentists cease orthodontic work. However, general dentists who perform orthodontic work need to have a clear understanding of the risks they face, so they’re in a position to reduce the likelihood of those risks becoming a reality.
Expanding your practice
It needs to be acknowledged that while the primary concern for dentists is the care of their patients, they’re also running a business. And any businessperson would be wise to think about how they can improve and grow that business. However, it also needs to be acknowledged that most changes to a business’s operations present new risks which need to be managed.
One of the key ways the risks of introducing orthodontics into the services being offered by a general dentist can be managed is to carefully consider the training which is undertaken. As with any CPD, dentists have an obligation to ensure that the orthodontic training they take up is of the standard and quality required. Not all training will be of the same standard and dentists need to thoroughly research their training options so they select that which is most ideal. Selecting training simply based on cost, location, and convenience isn’t acceptable, yet unfortunately, this does happen. Dentists need to remember that they’re responsible for any treatment they provide. Therefore, they need to take responsibility for ensuring they’re appropriately trained to provide this treatment.
Understand your level of knowledge and expertise
While all areas of dentistry are in a dentist’s scope of practice, dentists should understand their own personal and unique scope of practice. This requires dentists to be honest with themselves in terms of their individual level of knowledge and expertise and only perform treatments which fit within this. Dentists need to know the extent of their ability; this helps to ensure they provide appropriate and safe treatment to all patients. All dentists will have their limitations in terms of what treatments they can and should undertake. No dentist will be the answer to all dental needs for all patients.
Knowing when to treat and when to refer
This may sound like an unusual message to give to a health professional, however, knowing when to NOT treat is incredibly important.
General dentists who undertake orthodontics have a professional responsibility to identify patients whose clinical situation and treatment need is beyond their scope and expertise. And once this is identified, these patients must be referred to an orthodontist. This requires dentists to have an open and honest conversation with the patient explaining why they aren’t able to provide treatment and why they need to see a specialist orthodontist.
Orthodontics and general dentists – what are the risks?
During this conversation, dentists mustn’t allow patients to convince them to provide treatment. It’s not uncommon to hear of cases where a dentist has recommended a referral to a specialist yet the patient hasn’t wanted to take that referral; this may be due to cost, distance to travel, or simply that they want to continue treatment with who they know. Again, dentists are responsible for any treatment they provide. If the patient suffers a poor outcome due to treatment, claiming that the patient requested you carry out the treatment, rather than a specialist, is no defense for poor treatment or clinical decision-making.
Being responsible for treatment provided also extends to situations when the patient has requested particular treatment. It’s not uncommon for patients to do their own research and then request specific orthodontic treatment from their dentist, rather than wishing to discuss treatment options. However, in these cases, the dentist must ensure the patient is thoroughly assessed, has had treatment options explained to them, has given their informed consent to treatment, and only receives treatment that’s in their best interests. And of course, a patient requesting specific treatment from a specific dentist doesn’t negate the need to refer when required.
Openness about not being an orthodontist
Guild regularly sees complaints from patients where they claim they didn’t realize that the dentist performing their orthodontic treatment wasn’t an orthodontist. It’s hoped that in the majority of these cases that the dentist hasn’t intentionally misled the patient into believing they’re a specialist when they aren’t, instead, the patient has simply made an assumption. When patients don’t have clinical expertise, making an incorrect assumption is easy to do. It’s not hard to imagine patients thinking that someone performing orthodontic treatment must be an orthodontist.
Regardless of how a patient forms this view, the dentist must make sure the patient is clear in their understanding. This means being very upfront and honest with the patient in explaining that you’re a general dentist who is able to perform orthodontic treatment, but that you aren’t an orthodontist. It’s also important to make it clear to these patients that they have the option of choosing to see an orthodontist if they wish. Not suggesting you’re an orthodontist isn’t enough; dentists should be explicit in informing the patient that they aren’t.
In summary…
If a general dentist decides to provide orthodontic treatment, it’s imperative they understand the risks involved and take conscious steps to reduce those risks. This is likely to lead to better treatment outcomes for patients, which usually leads to satisfied patients who are less likely to complain.
- Dentists
- Professional
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FAQs
The law governs that any professional exercise the required skill to an appropriate level expected by that profession. A professional may be liable for financial loss, injury or damage arising from an act, error or omission of fault if the professional has not acted to the required level of skill deemed in that profession. Failure through this may result in the claimant (person who suffered the loss) be awarded for that loss, damage or injury.
Many professions require you to hold a professional indemnity insurance policy by law, such as Ahpra registered professions, but can be for other industries such as financial institutions also. Please check with your registration body or associations of your profession to know if it is required by law to have professional indemnity insurance. It is often also required by companies who take on contract workers that are not governed under the companies own insurance policy. It is acceptable for a company to ask you as the professional contractor to provide evidence of cover for professional indemnity before starting the contract period.
As stated above professional indemnity insurance covers you for breaches in relation to your professional duty. Liability insurance covers you for activity that results in personal injury or property damage as a result of your business activities that do not relate to your specific profession. An example may be someone who trips and is injured from spilled water within your office may be covered under liability, because it is your duty of care as business person to provide a safe environment. Whereas a person who suffers a loss or injury because of your professional treatment in relation to your job has caused it would usually be consider as an indemnity breach.
Generally business insurance is to cover the physical assets of your business for material damage loss and options for theft cover. It can also include cover for financial loss due to business interruption. Usually basic insurance does not cover breach of duty or flood cover, but if you speak to an insurance specialist it can often be added to your policy for a nominal fee.
Depending on the policy you are taking out, covers will often vary. At Guild insurance we specialise in making a policy to suit your business so that you are not over paying for covers you wouldn't normally need. The best thing to do is call 1800 810 213 to speak to an insurance specialist, they can find out what activities and structure your business is in to then provide you with adequate cover for you.
A certificate of currency (or COC for short) is a written document that confirms that your insurance policy is current and valid at a specific date and time. At Guild we provide easy access to your COC at any time within a few clicks of our online portal PolicyHub. If you are a new customer we can provide you with one post purchase.
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