Insurance Information For Dentists

How Much Does Insurance Cost for a Dental Practice?

Oran Pearson

October 5, 2026 · 15 min read

This is the ultimate question.

You can understand what a policy covers and why you may need it, but at some point, every practice owner wants to know the same thing: What is this actually going to cost me?

In this article, we are going to try to make that answer as clear as possible by breaking down the average cost of the major insurance policies a dental practice may carry.

Before we get into the numbers, there is one important point to make:

Insurance pricing is specific to your practice. For this article, we are primarily looking at an average small dental practice, generally a practice with one to three dentists. If you operate multiple locations, employ a large number of dentists, or run a larger dental group, your costs can look very different.

Even two dental practices that appear similar can pay different premiums.

Insurance companies may consider factors such as:

Location
Annual revenue
Number of employees
Property and equipment values
Dental specialty
Procedures performed
Claims history
Coverage limits
Deductibles
Cybersecurity controls
Previous insurance history

So, the numbers below are based on data that we have found, this will give you a realistic range, but not a concrete price to expect.

With that said, they can give you a good starting point for understanding what insurance may cost for a dental practice.

A Quick Look at Dental Practice Insurance Costs

For several of the most common policies, we have dental-specific pricing data available.

Based on published data from Insureon:

Coverage	Published Cost
Business Owner’s Policy	$1,637/year
Dental malpractice	$3,431/year
Workers’ compensation	$889/year
Cyber insurance	$952/year

Insureon bases these figures on policies purchased by dental professionals through its platform.

That gives us a starting point. Now let’s look at what each policy does and what can change the price.

Business Owner’s Policy

Let’s start with one of the foundational policies for a dental practice: the Business Owner’s Policy, commonly called a BOP.

What is a BOP?

A BOP typically combines several important business coverages into one policy, including:

Commercial property
General liability
Business income

For a dental practice, commercial property insurance can help protect your dental equipment, computers, furniture, tenant improvements, and other business property.

General liability can respond to certain third-party bodily injury and property damage claims.

Business income coverage can help replace lost income and continuing expenses when a covered property loss forces the practice to temporarily close.

This is why a BOP is commonly used as the foundation of a dental practice’s business insurance program.

How much does a dental practice BOP cost?

Insureon reports that dentists purchasing a Business Owner’s Policy through its platform pay approximately $136 per month, or $1,637 per year.

The Hartford provides another useful benchmark. It reports an average annual BOP premium of approximately $1,687 among its customers.

Those numbers are fairly close, which gives us a useful starting point.

Your actual premium can depend heavily on:

Value of dental equipment
Business personal property
Practice location
Building characteristics
Whether you own or lease
Revenue
Coverage limits
Deductibles
Number of employees

A small leased office with $200,000 of equipment is going to look very different from a large practice that owns its building and has $1 million worth of equipment.

Learn more: Business Insurance for Dental Practices

Dental Malpractice Insurance

Next is dental malpractice insurance, also known as professional liability insurance.

This coverage helps protect a dentist when a patient alleges that professional treatment or services caused an injury or loss.

Depending on the policy, coverage may help with legal defense costs, settlements, judgments, and other expenses associated with a covered malpractice claim.

How much does dental malpractice insurance cost?

Insureon reports that dentists purchasing malpractice coverage through its platform pay approximately $286 per month, or $3,431 per year.

But malpractice is a great example of why averages only tell part of the story.

Berxi published sample pricing for full-time dentists in Oregon with at least four years of experience purchasing $1 million/$3 million occurrence coverage.

Its examples included:

General dentist: approximately $1,989 per year
Periodontist: approximately $3,282 per year
Orthodontist: approximately $3,287 per year
Endodontist: approximately $3,287 per year

Those are examples from one insurer, one state, and a particular policy structure. They should not be treated as universal rates.

Malpractice pricing can depend on:

State
Dental specialty
Procedures performed
Claims history
Years in practice
Hours worked
Coverage limits
Occurrence vs. claims-made coverage
Practice structure

A new general dentist and an established specialist can have very different premiums.

Price also should not be the only thing you compare.

Policy language, consent to settle, defense costs, limits, claims-made versus occurrence coverage, tail provisions, and other terms can be just as important as premium.

Learn more: Dental Malpractice Insurance for Dentists

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

If you have employees, workers’ compensation is another important part of your insurance program.

Workers’ compensation can help cover medical care, rehabilitation expenses, and a portion of lost wages when an employee suffers a covered work-related injury or illness.

Requirements vary by state.

How much does workers’ compensation cost for a dental practice?

Insureon reports that dentists purchasing workers’ compensation through its platform pay approximately $74 per month, or $889 per year.

Workers’ compensation pricing can depend on:

Payroll
Number of employees
Employee job classifications
State
Claims history
Experience modification

A practice with three employees will naturally have a different workers’ compensation exposure than a practice with 30 employees across several offices.

Learn more: Business Insurance for Dental Practices

Cyber Liability Insurance

Cyber insurance has become an important consideration for dental practices.

Dental offices maintain significant amounts of sensitive information, including patient health information, insurance information, payment information, contact information, and other personal data.

Practices also rely heavily on technology to operate.

A cyber policy may help respond to covered events such as a data breach, ransomware attack, phishing incident, or network outage.

Depending on the policy, coverage may include:

Forensic investigation
Patient notification
Credit monitoring
Data restoration
Cyber extortion
Business interruption
Regulatory response
Third-party liability

How much does cyber insurance cost for a dental practice?

Insureon reports that dentists purchasing cyber insurance through its platform pay approximately $79 per month, or $952 per year.

Cyber pricing may depend on:

Practice revenue
Number of employees
Amount of sensitive data
Coverage limits
Previous cyber incidents
Multi-factor authentication
Backup procedures
Email security
Remote access
Other cybersecurity controls

Two dental practices of the same size can receive very different cyber pricing depending on how their systems are protected.

Learn more: Business Insurance for Dental Practices

Employment Practices Liability Insurance

If you have employees, you also have employment-related risk.

Employment Practices Liability Insurance, commonly called EPLI, can help protect a practice from certain claims involving:

Wrongful termination
Discrimination
Harassment
Retaliation
Other covered employment-related allegations

How much does EPLI cost?

This is where we need to be more careful with averages.

There is not a strong dental-specific EPLI average that we would be comfortable presenting as the expected cost for a dental practice.

Across Insureon’s broader small-business customer base, EPLI averages approximately $257 per month. Healthcare facilities in its data average approximately $315 per month.

That does not mean a small dental office should expect to pay $315 per month.

Smaller dental practices may be able to add some EPLI coverage to another policy, while other practices may need a broader standalone policy.

Pricing can depend on:

Number of employees
Employee turnover
State
Previous employment claims
Hiring and termination procedures
Coverage limits
Deductible
Risk-management practices

Because of those variables, we would use these figures only as broad context, not as a prediction of what your dental practice will pay.

Learn more: Business Insurance for Dental Practices

Equipment Breakdown Coverage

Dental practices depend heavily on equipment.

Compressors, vacuum systems, imaging equipment, sterilization equipment, electrical systems, HVAC systems, and other machinery can all be essential to keeping a practice operating.

Equipment breakdown coverage addresses certain mechanical and electrical failures that may not be covered the same way as an ordinary property loss.

How much does equipment breakdown coverage cost?

There is not a dental-specific average that we think is useful enough to present here.

Equipment breakdown is also commonly incorporated into or added to a broader commercial property or BOP program instead of being purchased as a completely separate insurance policy.

Its cost can depend on:

Equipment values
Type of equipment
Practice size
Coverage limits
Deductible
Business income exposure
Policy structure

In this case, we would rather tell you that there is not a useful universal number than give you a number that may have little to do with your practice.

Learn more: Business Insurance for Dental Practices

Crime and Employee Dishonesty Coverage

No practice owner likes thinking about employee theft, but it is an exposure worth considering.

Commercial crime insurance can help protect a business from certain losses involving:

Employee theft
Embezzlement
Forgery
Funds transfer fraud
Other covered fraudulent or dishonest acts

Dental practices can have employees with access to bank accounts, patient payments, credit cards, supplies, equipment, and financial systems.

How much does crime insurance cost?

Insureon’s small-business customers pay an average of approximately $75 per month, or $900 per year, for commercial crime insurance.

This is not dental-specific data.

The cost may depend on:

Number of employees
Coverage limits
Revenue
Employee access to funds
Financial controls
Security procedures
Claims history

Crime coverage may also be added to another commercial policy instead of being purchased separately.

For that reason, treat the $900 figure as a general small-business benchmark, not a dental-practice estimate.

Learn more: Business Insurance for Dental Practices

Commercial Umbrella Insurance

Commercial umbrella insurance provides additional liability limits above certain underlying insurance policies.

If a covered liability claim exceeds the available limit of an underlying policy, an umbrella policy may provide another layer of protection, subject to the policy’s terms.

How much does commercial umbrella insurance cost?

Insureon’s small-business customers pay an average of approximately $86 per month for commercial umbrella coverage. Its data shows annual premiums ranging from roughly $400 to more than $7,000 depending on the business and coverage purchased.

Again, this is not a dental-specific average.

The premium can depend on:

Underlying policies
Liability limits
Revenue
Practice size
Location
Claims history
Overall liability exposure

Learn more: Business Insurance for Dental Practices

Disability Insurance for Dentists

Disability insurance is different from many of the policies we have discussed.

A BOP protects the practice.

Malpractice insurance protects against professional liability.

Disability insurance helps protect your ability to earn an income if an illness or injury prevents you from practicing dentistry.

For dentists, the definition of disability can be particularly important.

Dentistry depends heavily on your hands, back, neck, vision, coordination, and ability to perform precise clinical work.

An own-occupation disability policy may provide benefits when a dentist can no longer perform the duties of their occupation, depending on the specific policy language.

How much does disability insurance cost for a dentist?

Guardian’s 2026 guide for dentists says disability insurance typically costs around 1% to 3% of annual income. It notes that actual premiums depend on the individual dentist and policy.

Factors can include:

Age
Health
Income
Dental specialty
Monthly benefit
Benefit period
Elimination period
Definition of disability
Riders
Tobacco use

A young general dentist protecting a smaller amount of income could have a very different premium from an established specialist protecting significantly more income.

What happens to the practice if the owner becomes disabled?

There is also business overhead expense disability insurance.

Instead of replacing the dentist’s personal income, overhead expense coverage is designed to help reimburse certain business expenses while an owner is disabled.

Principal lists expenses such as:

Rent or mortgage
Employee salaries
Utilities
Malpractice premiums
Other covered operating expenses

Principal specifically identifies dental and medical professionals as part of the target market for this type of coverage.

There is not a useful universal premium we would give for business overhead expense coverage.

The amount of overhead being protected, the owner’s health and age, benefit period, and policy design all affect the price.

The important distinction is simple:

Individual disability insurance helps protect the dentist’s income.

Business overhead expense disability insurance helps protect the practice’s expenses.

Employee Benefits for Dental Practices

Insurance protecting the practice is only part of the picture.

For practices with employees, benefits can become another significant expense.

An employee benefits program may include:

Health insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Group life insurance
Short-term disability
Long-term disability

The cost depends heavily on what benefits the practice offers and how much of the premium the employer agrees to pay.

How much do employee benefits cost?

There is no reliable dental-specific number we can give for the total cost of an employee benefits program.

Health insurance does give us a useful broader benchmark.

According to KFF’s 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey, among firms with 10 to 199 workers, average annual health insurance premiums were:

$9,211 for single coverage
$26,054 for family coverage

Those figures represent the total premium, not necessarily the amount the employer pays.

KFF found that employees at firms with 10 to 199 workers contributed an average of 16% of the premium for single coverage and 36% of the premium for family coverage.

There is an important limitation here.

KFF’s 2025 survey covered employers with at least 10 workers. Many small dental practices have fewer than 10 employees, so we would not use these figures to predict what a smaller dental office will pay.

Health insurance pricing can depend on:

Number of employees participating
Employee ages
Location
Plan design
Carrier
Deductibles
Employer contribution
Dependent coverage
Other benefits offered

Employee benefits are important both financially and as part of recruiting and retaining a dental team, but the only useful way to know the cost is to quote the actual group.

Life Insurance and the Dental Practice

Life insurance can also play an important role in protecting a dental practice and its owners.

This is another area where we do not think giving you an average premium would be very helpful.

Life insurance can serve several completely different purposes.

Protecting the dentist’s family

For many practice owners, their income is a major source of financial support for their family.

Personal life insurance can provide money for a spouse, children, or other beneficiaries if the dentist dies.

Key person life insurance

Some dental practices depend heavily on one owner or producer.

With key person life insurance, the business owns the policy and receives the benefit if the insured key person dies.

That benefit can potentially help the practice address lost revenue, debt, recruiting costs, or other expenses associated with losing someone essential to the business.

Funding a buy-sell agreement

Life insurance can also play an important role when a dental practice has multiple owners.

A buy-sell agreement can establish what happens to an owner’s interest if that owner dies.

Life insurance can provide funding to purchase that ownership interest rather than requiring the remaining owner or the business to suddenly produce a large amount of cash.

Protecting business debt

A practice may also have significant debt from:

Practice acquisition
Real estate
Equipment
Construction
Practice expansion

Life insurance can sometimes be used as part of a strategy to protect against that debt if a key owner dies.

How much does life insurance cost for a dentist?

We are intentionally not giving an average price here.

There are simply too many variables for one number to mean very much.

Life insurance pricing can depend on:

Age
Health
Coverage amount
Policy type
Term length
Tobacco use
Medical history
Purpose of the coverage

A healthy 30-year-old purchasing a personal term policy is buying something completely different from two practice owners funding a multimillion-dollar buy-sell agreement.

Life insurance can be an important part of protecting a practice, its owners, and their families.

But the need needs to be determined before the price means anything.

So, How Much Does Insurance Cost for a Dental Practice?

Let’s bring everything together.

Using the dental-specific figures published by Insureon for four common coverages:

Business Owner’s Policy: $1,637 per year

Dental malpractice: $3,431 per year

Workers’ compensation: $889 per year

Cyber insurance: $952 per year

Together, those published benchmarks total approximately $6,900 per year.

But that does not mean $6,900 is what your dental practice should expect to pay.

Those are pricing benchmarks from different policies purchased by different dental professionals.

Then there may be additional insurance needs, including:

EPLI
Commercial umbrella
Crime coverage
Equipment breakdown
Disability insurance
Employee benefits
Life insurance
Additional property coverage
Higher limits
Multiple locations
Additional dentists

Your practice could cost more than the published averages.

It could also cost less.

That is why the important question is not only:

“How much am I paying?”

It is also:

“What am I paying for?”

Two dental practices can pay the same premium and have very different coverage.

The best way to determine what insurance should cost for your dental practice is to look at the practice itself: your location, employees, revenue, property, equipment, specialty, procedures, claims history, ownership structure, and the coverage you actually need.

That gives you a number that means something.

Get a Quote for Your Dental Practice

Insurance by Dentists works with multiple insurance companies to help dental practices compare coverage and find competitive pricing.

If you would like us to review your current insurance or provide a quote for your dental practice, please let us know.

Request a quote for your dental practice

The pricing figures in this article are published industry averages, medians, and examples from third-party sources and are provided for educational purposes only. They are not quotes or guarantees of available pricing. Actual premiums, coverage, eligibility, limits, and policy terms vary by insurer, state, underwriting criteria, and individual practice.