Avoiding claims in the first place can help you avoid costly litigation, as well as any potential damage to your reputation. However, you will still need medical malpractice coverage and other types of insurance to fully protect your dental practice.

“Finding the best insurance for your business operations is important to offset the out-of-pocket expenses that can accrue against your business,” says Denise Smith, Senior Sales Agent at Insureon. “Insurance can cover claims such as property damage, slip and fall incidents, or lawsuits involving customer injuries.”

Let’s consider the most common types of dental malpractice claims and how to avoid them.

Like other health care professionals, dentists must be vigilant about the types of situations that can lead to expensive lawsuits.

Dentists are expected to identify dental disorders, such as a cavity or a cracked appliance, and then recommend treatment based on these diagnoses. However, if a patient does not understand the risks associated with treatment or is dissatisfied with the results, they could pursue a malpractice lawsuit.

When patients accuse dentists of malpractice, they claim that the dentist’s services or advice breached the standard of professional care. In other words, the work failed to meet reasonable expectations based on your professional training and experience.

To help prevent the financial damage of a malpractice claim, it is important to not only understand and recognize the situations that could lead to a lawsuit, but also to ensure that you have the appropriate insurance in place.

Getting free quotes for medical malpractice insurance is easy with Insureon. We will ask you basic facts about your business to help you find coverage that matches your unique risks and meets the requirements in your state.

Dental malpractice claims make claims about the quality of your work. Even a frivolous lawsuit can be expensive. You will need a good dental malpractice attorney or law firm that specializes in these types of cases.

That’s why it’s important to be aware of the common malpractice claims made against dentists. These include:

Allergic reactions and other complications. A patient could develop a new medical condition between visits that your practice should know about, such as an allergy to certain drugs, food or latex. Be sure to regularly update your patient’s medical information and check it before each visit.

Failure to give patients all the information they need. For example, a patient could claim that you did not fully explain a treatment plan and any risks, so the patient could not make an informed decision.

Failed treatments or procedures. This could include claims of damage or injury to teeth from botched restorations, root canals, faulty dental implants, veneers, crowns, and more. Patients might also claim that you missed a decay or other problem during a routine oral exam, which led to larger, more expensive problems, such as an abscess.

Failing to recognize oral cancer. A patient could accuse you of providing substandard care by failing to spot an early sign of oral cancer.

Misdiagnosis. Patients could claim that you misdiagnosed a condition, diagnosed it late, or failed to diagnose it at all.

Nerve damage. Common claims allege that a dentist has damaged the lingual nerve or the inferior alveolar nerve, while administering anesthesia or extracting teeth.

Products liability. Dentists can be blamed for using defective products, oral devices, and materials – even though the items were not manufactured by the dentist.

Questionable professional advice. Patients can claim that you have failed to provide sound professional advice. They can also claim that you failed to refer them to a specialist when needed.

A dental malpractice victim in Michigan received a Jury verdict of $2.75 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit in 2022, after dental treatment resulted in pain, suffering, and numbness in his mouth and impaired ability to chew.

The claim, against Dr. Jeffrey Osguthorpe and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, related to dental care that Osguthorpe performed in 2017 and 2018. The dental work included a wisdom tooth extraction and a CT scan that revealed a “soft tissue density mass.”

The lawsuit said the patient agreed to dental treatment involving an “excisional biopsy,” but the dentist performed an “excisional biopsy” without notifying the patient or obtaining his consent. He claimed that Osguthorpe had misdiagnosed the condition, failed to carry out adequate tests and diagnoses before surgery, and failed to organize the treatment in hospital.

The patient suffered massive bleeding that required emergency treatment by an oral surgeon, and hospitalization, according to the suit.

In 2019, a teenage girl and her parents received a Jury award of $625,000 in Virginia over wisdom tooth extraction results in 2014.

The defendant, Dr. Corey C. Crigler and Blue Ridge Oral Surgery, of causing nerve damage, severe swelling, and bruising that required nerve repair surgery.

The best way to “win” a malpractice lawsuit is to stop it before it happens. Here are some tips you can try in your office:

Do not avoid the Dental Board letter. At some point, you may receive an inquiry from your state’s Dental Board, which must investigate all complaints – even if they are unfounded. You will need to co-operate with the Board, even if a claim is unfounded, so that it can reach a favorable conclusion. You should also inform your insurance provider, so that they are aware of the situation and can recommend legal counsel, if necessary.

Communicate clearly with your patient before treatment. Never start treating patients until you are sure they understand exactly what you are going to do and the risks involved. Do not assume that they have background knowledge about certain dental procedures. Speak plainly and encourage them to ask questions. You may even want your patients to sign a consent form stating that they understand the treatment and the risks.

Follow up with missed or canceled appointments. Your office should have written protocols in place for following up on patients who miss or cancel an appointment—even if it’s just a six-month cleaning. A missed appointment means you may miss the opportunity to diagnose a condition as soon as possible, which leaves you open to claims of negligence.

Stay in your comfort zone. If patients come to you with an issue you are not comfortable diagnosing or treating, always refer them to a specialist you trust. If you decide to proceed with an extraction that ultimately fails, patients (and their lawyers) may argue that a specialist would have been a safer route and that you should have known better.

Keep track of medical history. Your patients may have developed allergies or new medical conditions between visits that you will need to be aware of. Make sure you ask for any changes in their health care, and document this in your records.

Keep accurate records. Do this even if it means recording the fact that you broke an instrument in a patient’s canal. Cutting the tip of the file in the canal does not breach the standard of care, but it should be noted to the patient and in the patient’s file. If there is a complication or the patient finds out about it later, the reaction could be surprise, anger, or a claim against your practice.

Look for signs of oral cancer. If a patient develops any type of oral cancer that you did not recognize, they may accuse you of failing to provide adequate care. Make sure you are aware of the early signs of cancer and look for them with every patient as part of their dental health.

Never delete anything in a patient’s chart. Not even mistakes. If you accidentally enter a mistake in a chart, put a line through it and mark it as an error. If that patient later sues and your records are audited, it’s going to look suspicious if they were changed. For the same reason, you should never add information to a chart after a patient has filed a claim.

Despite all these precautions, it’s still a good idea for dentists to carry malpractice insurance, which is a type of professional liability insurance (also known as errors and omissions insurance) for healthcare professionals.

It’s easy to get dental business insurance if you have your company’s information to hand. Our application will ask for basic facts about your business, such as revenue and number of employees. You can buy a policy online and get a certificate of insurance with Insureon in three easy steps:

1. Complete a free online application
2. Compare insurance quotes and choose policies
3. Pay for your policy and download a certificate

For medical malpractice coverageyou can contact our dedicated agent by sending an email to (email protected) or by calling (312) 854-2919. They can help you find malpractice insurance quotes and other common policies your practice needs.

Insureon’s licensed insurance agents work with top-rated providers in the US to find the right insurance for your dental practice, whether you are self-employed or have employees.