Dental Defence Society Membership
Dental Defence Society offers a more considered way to protect your professional work. Our model is built around a Core Dental Membership, providing protection for modern dental practice, with the flexibility to add specific Additional Practice Protection options as your scope of work evolves.
This structure gives you clarity over what you are covered for, control over what your protection includes, and confidence that your indemnity reflects the reality of your practice today. You can adapt your membership as your career develops without fees or penalties, ensuring your protection remains relevant, proportionate and aligned to the work you do.
Dental Indemnity built by the person who understands your practice best. You.
Core Dental Membership
At Dental Defence Society, we have designed an innovative membership structure that adapts to you, your career, your practice, and the way you deliver care.
Our Core Dental Membership provides comprehensive protection for the majority of a modern dentist’s work, while our range of dedicated Additional Practice Protection options supports specific areas of contemporary practice. This approach enables you to be proactive and intentional in how you safeguard your professional future.
What you receive with the Core Dental Membership:
- Complaints, claims & GDC/regulatory defence
- 24/7 dento-legal advice
- Support for NHS/private work within normal GDP scope
- Help with complaints and complaint responses
- Assistance with handling ethical / other professional issues
- Non-clinical legal advice, e.g. HR/employment law
With Dental Defence Society, you can shape your protection with clarity and confidence:
- Start with the Core Dental Membership
- Select the role that reflects your practice
- Choose the Additional Practice Protection options that reflect your scope of work
- Complete and submit your application to our membership team
Our team will review your details and provide a personalised quote, along with a summary of the additional benefits you’ll receive as a Dental Defence Society member, within seven days.
Select the role that reflects your professional accountability
This first step is to help us establish your core indemnity baseline based on your professional role and not where you work. You will be able to tailor your clinical activities and focus areas in next steps
Associate
Associate dentists play an important role in modern dental practice, balancing clinical delivery with accountability across multiple settings and patient groups. Their work demands adaptability, sound judgement and a consistent commitment to professional standards.
Includes salaried, hospital, community, and employed dentists without practice ownership responsibility.
Principal
Principal dentists carry responsibility that extends beyond clinical care alone. As practice owners and leaders, they balance patient outcomes with governance, staff oversight, regulatory compliance and business accountability, often under increasing operational and public scrutiny.
This is why Dental Defence Society as standard has included Vicarious Liability and Non-delegable Duty of Care.
For dentists with ownership, governance, or vicarious liability responsibility, regardless of clinical workload.
Specialist
Specialist dentistry is shaped by depth of training, defined clinical boundaries and a strong sense of professional responsibility. At Dental Defence Society, we believe that clinicians who dedicate themselves to a specialist pathway and are on the GDC Specialist register deserve indemnity that reflects the precision and focus of their work.
Your membership includes all Principal/General clinical cover plus your specific specialist pathway.
Implant Surgeon
Implant surgeons represent a distinct professional group within dentistry, defined by advanced capability, focused clinical expertise and a sustained commitment to high standards of surgical practice. Their work reflects rigorous case planning, refined technical skill and a deep understanding of risk, outcomes and long-term patient care.
Associate Dentist
Associate dentists play an important role in modern dental practice, balancing clinical delivery with accountability across multiple settings and patient groups. Their work demands adaptability, sound judgement and a consistent commitment to professional standards.
At Dental Defence Society, we recognise that associates face distinct risks relating to employment arrangements, supervision, autonomy and shared responsibility. Appropriate protection should reflect these realities, supporting associates to practise with confidence while safeguarding their professional reputation as their careers develop.
Principal Dentist
Principal dentists carry responsibility that extends beyond clinical care alone. As practice owners and leaders, they balance patient outcomes with governance, staff oversight, regulatory compliance and business accountability, often under increasing operational and public scrutiny.
This is why Dental Defence Society as standard has included Vicarious Liability and Non-delegable Duty of Care.
Dental Defence Society understands the breadth of this responsibility. Protection for principals should recognise their dual role as clinician and leader, offering clarity and reassurance across clinical decision making, management obligations and the long term stewardship of their practice and professional standing.
Vicarious Liability (VL) and Non-Delegable Duty Of Care (NDDOC)
Specialist Dentist
Specialist dentistry is shaped by depth of training, defined clinical boundaries and a strong sense of professional responsibility. At Dental Defence Society, we believe that clinicians who dedicate themselves to a recognised specialist pathway deserve indemnity that reflects the precision and focus of their work.
Our Specialist Dentist Membership is designed for dentists who hold an approved GDC specialist title and can evidence the advanced education, supervised training and scope specific practice that comes with it. By combining the Core Dental Membership with the relevant Specialist field and any Additional Practice Protection options, specialists can build protection that mirrors their true scope of work with nothing borrowed from areas outside their discipline.
Because your practice is guided by a clearly governed specialist scope, this membership allows us to offer fair, risk aligned premiums that recognise your expertise rather than blending you into the wider generalist pool. You receive cover that reflects the work you actually undertake, shaped around your skill, your discipline and your commitment to excellence.
It is protection that recognises your journey as a specialist, careful and accurate, built with the clarity and respect your role deserves.
Specialities
Endodontics
Oral Surgery
Orthodontics
Paediatric Dentistry
Periodontics
Prosthodontics
Restorative Dentistry
Implant Surgeon
Implant surgeons represent a distinct professional group within dentistry, defined by advanced capability, focused clinical expertise and a sustained commitment to high standards of surgical practice. Their work reflects rigorous case planning, refined technical skill and a deep understanding of risk, outcomes and long-term patient care.
This membership, which includes the Core Dental Membership, recognises clinicians who meet a higher bar of training, ethical practice and professional responsibility in one of dentistry’s most demanding fields. Implant surgeons are able to select from a range of Additional Practice Protection options, giving them clarity, certainty and control over how their cover reflects the breadth and depth of their work.
By applying a clear and robust quality framework, Dental Defence Society ensures that protection is reserved for those committed to high-quality, evidence-based implant dentistry. This approach allows us to offer fair, accurate and sustainable premiums that align with the level of skill, preparation and responsibility required in modern implant surgery.
Click on this link to answer a few questions about your implant practice and build your personalised implant surgery protection.
Additional Practice Protection options which you can add to your indemnity
Facial Aesthetics
Facial aesthetic treatments are becoming an important extension of modern dental practice, offering patients more holistic care while allowing you to broaden your clinical portfolio. With this growth comes the need for thoughtful, well structured protection and that is exactly what this Additional Practice Protection option provides.
At Dental Defence Society, we recognise that delivering facial aesthetic treatments requires precision, training and a deep commitment to patient trust. This option supports you as you expand your scope of practice, giving you the reassurance that your aesthetic work is protected with the same care and clarity as your core dentistry.
Whether your practice includes dermal fillers, botulinum toxin or minimally invasive skin rejuvenation procedures, this Additional Practice Protection helps you stay aligned to best practice, ethical standards and evolving regulatory guidance. You continue to focus on safe, confident patient care. We stand beside you with expert insight, tailored protection and a long-term partnership designed around your professional growth.
Case By Case Implants
Implant surgery is both a milestone and a responsibility, we recognise that placing implants even in modest volumes requires deep focus, rigorous planning and a dependable support structure. This Additional Practice Protection is specially designed for dentists performing up to 50 implant procedures per year, offering tailored protection aligned to your implant portfolio.
When you offer implant treatments, you expand your clinical expertise, but you also increase your exposure to unique complications, with our Additional Practice Protection you are never alone. You maintain your commitment to patients with confidence, backed by a partner who understands the stakes and helps you proactively protect your work and reputation.
Surgical Periodontal Treatment
Periodontal surgery is a significant part of modern restorative and preventive dentistry. Whether you are treating advanced periodontitis, managing complex defects, or supporting long-term oral stability, these procedures demand precision, experience and a calm, informed approach to patient care.
We recognise the responsibility that comes with performing surgical periodontal treatments. This Additional Practice Protection option is designed for dentists who provide procedures such as flap surgery, regenerative techniques or surgical management of periodontal pockets giving you the tailored support you need while honouring the trust your patients place in you.
By adding this protection you align your advanced periodontal work with protection that is thoughtful, robust and fully attuned to the realities of periodontal surgery. You continue to focus on stabilising, preserving and restoring your patients oral health. We stand alongside you with steady guidance, expert insight and the confidence of knowing your work is supported at every stage.
Orthodontics. Aligners
Clear aligner orthodontics has become an established and valued part of contemporary dental practice. When delivered thoughtfully and within defined clinical parameters, aligner treatment can offer patients predictable, minimally invasive orthodontic care.
This Additional Practice Protection is designed for dentists whose orthodontic work is limited to aligner based treatments. It recognises the clinical responsibility involved in case selection, treatment planning, monitoring tooth movement and managing patient expectations throughout the course of care.
By adding this option to your Core Dental Membership, your protection reflects both the opportunities and the boundaries of aligner orthodontics. You continue to focus on safe, well planned treatment delivered within your competencies, supported by protection that is clear, proportionate and aligned to the way you practise.
Orthodontics. Special Interest
Orthodontics delivered by dentists with a special interest represents a meaningful extension of clinical expertise within dental practice. Additional training required includes PGDip, MSc, MClinDent which allows you to manage more complex malocclusions, fixed appliances and longer term treatment plans that require advanced training, careful judgement and a deep understanding of occlusion, biomechanics and patient compliance.
This Additional Practice Protection is designed for dentists who practise orthodontics beyond aligner only treatment, working within a defined special interest, but are not on the specialist register. It recognises the increased clinical responsibility involved in diagnosis, appliance selection, treatment progression and the management of complications over time.
By adding this option to your Core Dental Membership, your indemnity evolves to reflect the depth and breadth of your orthodontic practice. You continue to deliver considered, patient centred orthodontic care with confidence, knowing your work is supported by protection that understands the realities of advanced orthodontic decision making.
Endodontics
Endodontics is a precise and thoughtful discipline within modern dentistry. It calls for patience, careful technique and a clear understanding of the biological and anatomical details that influence long-term success. Whether you are navigating complex canal systems, revisiting previous treatments or preserving teeth that might otherwise be lost, endodontic care carries a meaningful clinical responsibility.
Our Endodontics Additional Practice Protection supports dentists whose practice includes root canal treatments, re-treatments and advanced endodontic procedures. By adding this to your Core Dental Membership, your indemnity reflects the level of skill, preparation and considered judgement required for endodontic work.
Non-Clinical
Not all professional responsibilities happen in the surgery. Many dentists contribute to the profession through teaching, mentoring, medico-legal work and expert advisory roles. These activities carry their own reputational and legal exposures, often overlooked, yet increasingly important as dentistry becomes more collaborative, regulated and publicly scrutinised.
The Non-Clinical Additional Practice Protection is designed to protect dentists who take on these wider responsibilities. Whether you deliver hands-on training, supervise colleagues, contribute to expert reports or advise tribunals, this option ensures that your non-clinical work is supported with the same clarity, steadiness and care as your practice based dentistry.
At Dental Defence Society, we value the leadership you bring to the profession. This option honours that commitment and gives you peace of mind as you guide others, share your knowledge and uphold the standards of modern dentistry.
Ready to have clarity, control, and confidence in your protection?
For more information or if you have any questions call us today on 020 8242 6226 or email us at info@dentaldefencesociety.com