Dentistry Claims: August Malpractice Risk Review–Insights to Reduce Patient Harm and Malpractice Exposure

PR Newswire

NAPA, Calif., Aug. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Doctors Company, the nation’s largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer, today released “Dentistry Claims: August Malpractice Risk Review,” the newest edition in a monthly series of specialty-focused analyses designed to support patient safety and clinical risk management.

Each month in 2026, The Doctors Company will explore malpractice risk trends in a different medical specialty, offering evidence-based insights drawn from real claims data to help clinicians and healthcare leaders better understand how patient harm occurs and why negligence allegations arise.

“Dentistry Claims: August Malpractice Risk Review,” available at thedoctors.com/dentistryMRR, brings together three complimentary analyses that highlight key areas of risk within dental practices:

  • Contributing factors to patient harm: Identifies common drivers of dentistry claims, which are primarily driven by technical issues, including technical performance issues associated with known complications, such as retained foreign bodies.
  • Negligence allegations: Analyzes negligence allegations in dentistry to help dentists and staff proactively identify and address risk.
  • Case summary for delayed diagnosis of oral cancer: Emphasizes the importance of vigilant surveillance, timely biopsy, and clear communication with patients who present with persistent or recurrent oral lesions. It underscores the impact of delayed diagnosis on patient outcomes and the need for adherence to specialty guidelines.

“Understanding how and why adverse events occur is essential to improving patient safety and reducing risk across healthcare,” said Julie Ritzman, MBA, CPHRM, Senior Vice President, Patient Safety and Risk Management, The Doctors Company, part of TDC Group. “Our monthly Malpractice Risk Review series delivers actionable insights grounded in real malpractice claims data, helping clinicians and healthcare leaders identify vulnerabilities, strengthen communication, and support safer patient care.”

About The Doctors Company
Founded and led by physicians, The Doctors Company (thedoctors.com) is relentlessly committed to advancing, protecting, and rewarding the practice of good medicine. The Doctors Company helps hospitals and practices of all sizes manage the complexities of today’s healthcare environment—with expert guidance, resources, and coverage—and is the only medical malpractice insurer with an advocacy program covering all 50 states and the federal level. The Doctors Company is part of TDC Group (tdcg.com), the nation’s largest physician-owned provider of insurance and risk management solutions. TDC Group serves the full continuum of care, from individual clinicians to academic medical systems—more than 200,000 healthcare professionals and organizations nationwide—with direct written premiums of over $2.5 billion annually and $12 billion in assets. To learn more about our data-driven insights and to stay up to date on industry trends, follow and subscribe to The Doctors Company on X (@doctorscompany), YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Copyrighted by and used with permission of Candello a division of The Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions Incorporated, all rights reserved.

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SOURCE The Doctors Company

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