Did You Shop For Business Owners Policy Coverage For Your Dental Practice This Year? Here’s What That New Quote Probably Didn’t Tell You.

Your dental practice insurance renewal arrives, and the premium is higher than last year. Your first instinct is to get competing quotes.

That instinct is completely normal, and increasingly common. According to J.D. Power’s 2025 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study, 57% of insurance customers shopped for a new policy in the past year, up from 49% the year before. TransUnion, the consumer data and analytics company, tracked three straight years of rising shopping rates and concluded that regular insurance shopping has become “the new normal” for American consumers. LexisNexis Risk Solutions, which monitors insurance market activity for carriers and brokers nationwide, reported an 18% increase in policy shopping activity in 2024 alone.

So if you picked up the phone after your last renewal, you were in very good company.

But here’s what the general consumer data doesn’t tell you: dental practices don’t shop for insurance the same way a homeowner shops for homeowners’ coverage. The stakes are different, and the risks are different. Unfortunately for dentists, the gaps that show up in a cheaper policy can cost far more than the premium savings ever justified.

Why Dental Practice Property Insurance Costs Are Still Rising

The broader property and casualty insurance market has been softening for personal lines. For dental practices, that softening hasn’t fully arrived. According to the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB), commercial P&C) premiums in Q4 2025 were the softest since 2017 – rising just 0.2% on average across all account sizes.¹ Dental practice property, however, hasn’t followed that trend.

Industry loss data tells the story. Dental practices have experienced a higher-than-average frequency and severity of water-related claims (like burst pipes, flooding, and freeze events) that have driven some dental insurance books to extremely high loss ratios. An analysis of small-business claims from 2020 to 2024 by The Hartford, published in Dental Economics, found that water and freezing damage ranked as the most common property claim category for small-business owners nationwide.² Carriers have responded by tightening underwriting and raising rates, particularly in higher-risk geographic areas where admitted carriers are pulling back and more practices are being placed into surplus lines markets.

In plain terms: your renewal went up because dental practices, as a category, have been getting hit with more claims. That’s not a reason to panic. It is a reason to shop carefully with the help of an insurance professional who knows the dental marketplace.

Are Dental Practices Over-Insured or Underinsured on Commercial Property?

When dentists seek competing quotes, they often encounter a frustrating paradox. Many dental professionals end up either over-insured or, more seriously, underinsured on commercial property, and frequently don’t discover which one they are until after a loss.

Why is this so common? Because dental practices don’t fit neatly into the standard commercial property boxes that most general business insurance carriers use. Your operatories, imaging equipment, sterilization systems, and specialized cabinetry represent significant value that a generic policy may calculate incorrectly – either inflating the replacement cost estimate or, more dangerously, underestimating it.

Consider what happens when a general carrier prices coverage for a dental office  the same way it prices coverage for an accounting firm or a retail shop. The square footage might be similar. The stated contents value might even match. But a single fully equipped operatory can represent $50,000 or more in dental chairs, delivery units, and cabinetry alone. Add imaging equipment – advanced imaging systems – and the contents value of even a modest two-operatory practice can reach $200,000 to $300,000 or more. A single advanced imaging unit alone can top $100,000. Then add the tenant improvements: the custom plumbing, cabinetry, and electrical systems built specifically for dental use. A standard BOP (Business Owner’s Policy) wasn’t built to value any of this accurately.

How to Compare Dental Practice P&C Insurance Quotes the Right Way

Getting competitive quotes is a reasonable thing to do, especially when premiums are rising faster than your practice revenue. The mistake is treating all quotes as equivalent and choosing primarily on price.

When evaluating competing proposals for your practice’s property and casualty coverage, a few things deserve more attention than the premium line:

How is your contents value calculated? Ask specifically how the carrier arrived at the number. A carrier with dental-specific underwriting experience will be able to walk you through the valuation methodology for your operatory equipment, imaging systems, and tenant improvements. It’s wise to shop for a policy that pays based on replacement cost, and not what it cost you to purchase the assets in the first place.

What does the business interruption coverage actually cover? Dental practices have high fixed costs, such as staff, lease, equipment loans, that continue even when the practice can’t see patients. A pipe burst that shuts down your practice for three weeks isn’t just a property claim. The income loss can be substantial. Confirm the waiting period, the duration of coverage, and what triggers a claim.

Who wrote the policy? A carrier with experience insuring dental practices will have loss data, claims history, and underwriting guidelines built around the realities of running a dental office. That specificity matters when you file a claim.

What Dental Practices Should Look for in A Business Owners’ Policy

If you haven’t reviewed your P&C coverage with someone who works specifically in the dental space, renewal season is a good time confirm that what you have actually protects what you’ve built.

The dentists who feel the most pain after a loss aren’t always the ones who skipped insurance. Many had plenty of coverage, unfortunately just not the right kind.

Before you lock in another policy that looks competitive on the surface, make sure you’re not leaving your practice exposed where it matters most.

Get a second set of eyes on your Business Owners Policy—one that understands the real risks dental practices face every day. We’ll break down the fine print, uncover hidden gaps, and help you secure coverage that actually protects your business, your team, and your future.

Request your complimentary coverage review today and find out what your current quote didn’t tell you. 

About Treloar & Heisel

Treloar & Heisel offers dental and medical professionals a comprehensive suite of financial products and services ranging from business and personal insurance to wealth management. We are proud to assist thousands of clients from residency to practice and through retirement. Our experienced teams deliver custom-tailored advice through an active local presence, while our strong national network ensures that clients experience the same high level of service throughout the country.

For more information visit www.treloaronline.com.

Footnotes:

¹ Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB), Q4 2025 Commercial P&C Market Survey, as reported by Insurance Journal (February 25, 2026): https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2026/02/25/859571.htm

² The Hartford, analysis of small-business claims 2020–2024, as published in Dental Economics: https://markets.financialcontent.com/pennwell.dental/article/bizwire-2025-12-9-water-and-freezing-damage-burglary-lead-the-hartfords-top-five-small-business-claims