Abstract: A tissue contact detection system tracks, over time during a surgical procedure, a temperature of a surgical instrument associated with a surgical system used for the surgical procedure. The system determines, based on the tracked temperature of the surgical instrument, that the temperature of the surgical instrument changes from a first temperature to a second temperature that varies from the first temperature by at least a predetermined amount, and determines, based on the determination that the temperature of the surgical instrument changes from the first temperature to the second temperature, that the surgical instrument is in physical contact with patient tissue. The system performs, in response to the determination that the surgical instrument is in physical contact with patient tissue, a mitigation operation configured to mitigate the physical contact of the surgical instrument with the patient tissue.