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
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Patient driven dental treatment
Many dentists would have experienced situations where a patient has attended for an appointment and informed their dentist how they want to be treated. These patients present a number of potential risks for the treating dentist. Below is information dentists should consider when in this situation.
Patient expectations – when a patient has formed their own opinion about the treatment they require, they have possibly also formed an expectation regarding the outcome of that treatment. It’s possible that this expectation isn’t realistic and may not be able to be met. With all treatment provided, the dentist needs to have a conversation with the patient prior to treatment beginning to be sure their expectations regarding outcomes are realistic.
Clinical assessment – regardless of what a patient thinks they know about their condition or what treatment they’ve requested, it’s always the responsibility of the dentist to conduct a thorough clinical assessment to form their diagnosis. This information is vital so the dentist can provide the patient with treatment which is clinically required and appropriate for their situation. A request from a patient does not justify rushing this important process or making assumptions.
Informed consent – treatment requests from a paitent should not be considered informed consent for that treatment. Informed consent requires the patient be informed, by the treating dentist, of their treatment options, the intended or expected treatment outcomes and the risks of treatment. It should not be assumed that a patient who has requested treatment has this required information; there should always be a discussion to be sure the patient is fully informed.
Considering the patient’s wishes – when a patient presents with a request for particular treatment, the dentist may feel they’re in a challenging position from a communication and patient relationship perspective. There may be cases where what the patient is asking for is completely inappropriate or not possible. Yet if the patient feels their request has been simply ignored, they may not be happy with the level of service from the dentist. The dentist therefore needs to be mindful how they approach the conversation about other treatment options and the reasons for these.
Clinically justified treatment – all dentists are responsible for any treatment they provide, and they need to be sure it is clinically justified based on that patient’s individual clinical situation; requests from patients don’t lessen this requirement. If treatment provided is found to be inappropriate or harmful, stating that the patient requested it would not be considered a reasonable defence.
Communication – all of the above information requires effective communication from the dentist. It’s important that all health professionals never underestimate how important communication is to help patients understand their treatment options. And it’s also worth keeping in mind that patients don’t just complain about poor clinical outcomes, many also complain about how they’ve been communicated with or made to feel. It’s therefore imperative that the conversation between the dentist and patient is had in a respectful way so the patient feels they’ve been listened to, even if the treatment they’ve requested is not what will be provided.
Guild Insurance Limited ABN 55 004 538 863, AFS Licence No. 233 791. This article contains information of a general nature only, and is not intended to constitute the provision of legal advice. Guild Insurance supports your Association through the payment of referral fees for certain products or services you take out with them.
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- Business Practices
- Communication
- Complaints
- Consent
- Duty of Care
- Guild Insurance
- Informed
- Injury/Injuries
- Risks
- safety
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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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