Delta Dental Class Action: The Dentists' Antitrust Case

What the Dentists Allege

This is a dispute between dentists and their insurer, not a consumer case. Beginning in 2019, dentists alleged that Delta Dental — the largest dental-insurance system in the country — and its affiliated plans violated antitrust law by agreeing to territorial restrictions and suppressing the reimbursement rates paid to participating providers. The plaintiffs sought money damages reported in the billions and an injunction.

The claims are under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, which targets agreements that restrain competition. They remain allegations the courts have not accepted as proven.

The 2025 Certification Denial

In September 2025 a federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois denied class certification to a proposed class of roughly 240,000 dentists. Denying certification does not dismiss the case — the federal action continues on individual claims — but it means the providers cannot pursue it as a single nationwide class.

Class certification is often the pivotal moment in antitrust litigation: without it, the economics of pursuing individual claims change substantially.

The New State Cases

In 2026 dentists opened a second front, filing class actions in state courts — reported in California, Wisconsin, Michigan and Massachusetts — seeking class-wide relief under state law while the federal case proceeds individually. State antitrust and consumer statutes sometimes allow claims that a federal court has declined to certify, which is the strategy here.