Chairside Work & Consultations: Where We See Labs Take On Risk Without Realizing It

One of the biggest shifts we’ve seen in the dental laboratory industry is how involved labs have become in the clinical side of cases.

Years ago, labs stayed behind the scenes.

Today, many of the labs we work with are:

• Supporting case planning
• Offering treatment input
• Going chairside
• Working more directly with both dentists and patients

From a business standpoint, this is a great move.

From an insurance standpoint, it changes your exposure completely.

The Question That Always Comes Up: Who Is Liable?

We often ask lab owners a simple question:

“If something goes wrong during a case where you were involved — who do you think is responsible?”

Most say, “The dentist.”

But that’s not always how it plays out.

If your lab:

• Provided input
• Assisted in the process
• Or was involved chairside

You can be brought into the claim.

And once that happens, the cost of defense alone can be significant — regardless of the outcome.

Why Professional Liability Becomes Critical

This is exactly where professional liability coverage comes in.

It’s designed to protect you when a claim involves:

• Advice you provided
• Consultations you participated in
• Services that didn’t produce the expected result

We’ve seen situations where labs had general coverage but no professional liability — and they were left exposed.

Industry recommendations typically start at:

• $1M per occurrence
• $2M aggregate (often higher depending on operations)

And in many cases, increasing those limits is not as expensive as people expect.

Chairside Work Adds Another Layer of Risk

When technicians step into a clinical environment, new factors come into play:

• Patient interaction
• Health and safety exposure
• Lack of consistent regulation across states
• Unclear division of responsibility

We’ve also seen policies that don’t automatically extend to:

• Offsite work
• Chairside services
• Work performed outside the lab

Again, that’s something you don’t want to figure out after the fact.

What We Recommend Before Expanding Services

Before offering or increasing chairside involvement, we usually advise labs to take a step back and review:

• Does your policy include professional liability?
• Are offsite services clearly covered?
• Do you have clear agreements with dentists?
• Are your technicians properly trained for chairside environments?

These are simple checks — but they make a big difference.

Final Thought

The dental laboratory industry is evolving — and we think that’s a good thing.

Labs that provide more value will continue to stand out.

But with that added value comes added responsibility.

From what we’ve seen, the labs that take a proactive approach to coverage are the ones that avoid the biggest problems down the road.