Disability Insurance for Dentists

As a dentist with your own practice, you're not only responsible for patients but for running the business.

As with other professional business owners, you really need to ask two simple questions:

1. "What will I do for income if I can
     no longer treat patients because
     of an illness or injury?"
2. "How long could I and my family
     maintain our current standard of
     living if I couldn't work?"

These questions, while applicable to most professions, have more emphasis for you as a dentist because of the following:

• If you stop working, your primary source of income stops immediately.
• Because dentistry requires physical dexterity, especially with the hands, dentists are much more likely to be completely versus partially disabled, which can extend the disability period.
• Dentists are not likely to take on jobs doing tasks other than dentistry during rehabilitation, which can also extend the disability period.
• Dentists covered by group disability insurance from an employer often find the cap on monthly benefits to be significantly lower than their regular income, noticeably impacting cash flow in the event of illness or injury.

A solid individual or supplemental disability insurance policy has a base set of provisions.  Because dentists have very specific needs, your disability insurance policy should also include the following:

• Your policy should define Total Disability as "Own Occupation".  This means you will be considered disabled if you can't perform your own occupation, versus any occupation.  Taking it one step further, your policy should also identify any specialties in the definition.
  
  With this provision, a periodontist should be able to collect benefits as long as he/she can't perform as such.  This helps to ensure you maintain financial protection until you can do the exact job you specialize in.
• The definition of Residual (or Partial) Disability should be "Loss of Income".  While more expensive than "Time & Duties", Loss of Income ensures your benefit will make up the difference in your pre-disability income up to a set percentage (usually 80%-90%) until you can earn that amount on your own.  Because it may take months to rebuild a practice once you return to work, Loss of Income in necessary to cover your income until things get rolling again.

Depending on your specific circumstances and specialty, additional provisions may be necessary to ensure your income is protected if you can't work.

For additional information, please submit the form on the right to be contacted by an authorized agent.

Request a Free Disability Insurance Quote