diff --git a/docling_core/types/doc/document.py b/docling_core/types/doc/document.py
index 414640d6..56e1230d 100644
--- a/docling_core/types/doc/document.py
+++ b/docling_core/types/doc/document.py
@@ -5351,6 +5351,10 @@ def extract_bounding_box(text_chunk: str) -> Optional[BoundingBox]:
                 coords = coords[:4]
             if len(coords) == 4:
                 l, t, r, b = map(float, coords)
+                eps = 1 / 500
+                # Ignore bounding boxes with width or height of <1e-3, including cases where l>r or t>b.
+                if r - l < eps or b - t < eps:
+                    return None
                 return BoundingBox(l=l / 500, t=t / 500, r=r / 500, b=b / 500)
             return None
 
@@ -5366,12 +5370,13 @@ def extract_caption(
             if caption is not None:
                 caption_content = caption.group(1)
                 bbox = extract_bounding_box(caption_content)
-                caption_text = extract_inner_text(caption_content)
-                caption_item = doc.add_text(
-                    label=DocItemLabel.CAPTION,
-                    text=caption_text,
-                    parent=None,
-                )
+                if bbox is not None:
+                    caption_text = extract_inner_text(caption_content)
+                    caption_item = doc.add_text(
+                        label=DocItemLabel.CAPTION,
+                        text=caption_text,
+                        parent=None,
+                    )
             else:
                 caption_item = None
                 bbox = None
@@ -5634,17 +5639,20 @@ def _add_text(
                     common_bbox = extract_bounding_box(content)
                     for item_match in pattern.finditer(content):
                         item_tag = item_match.group("tag")
-                        _add_text(
-                            full_chunk=item_match.group(0),
-                            bbox=common_bbox,
-                            pg_width=pg_width,
-                            pg_height=pg_height,
-                            page_no=page_no,
-                            tag_name=item_tag,
-                            doc_label=tag_to_doclabel.get(item_tag, DocItemLabel.TEXT),
-                            doc=doc,
-                            parent=inline_group,
-                        )
+                        if common_bbox is not None:
+                            _add_text(
+                                full_chunk=item_match.group(0),
+                                bbox=common_bbox,
+                                pg_width=pg_width,
+                                pg_height=pg_height,
+                                page_no=page_no,
+                                tag_name=item_tag,
+                                doc_label=tag_to_doclabel.get(
+                                    item_tag, DocItemLabel.TEXT
+                                ),
+                                doc=doc,
+                                parent=inline_group,
+                            )
 
                 elif tag_name in [DocItemLabel.PICTURE, DocItemLabel.CHART]:
                     caption, caption_bbox = extract_caption(full_chunk)
diff --git a/test/data/doc/2408.09869v3_enriched.dt.json b/test/data/doc/2408.09869v3_enriched.dt.json
index 5b3c9eaf..53aa324e 100644
--- a/test/data/doc/2408.09869v3_enriched.dt.json
+++ b/test/data/doc/2408.09869v3_enriched.dt.json
@@ -4960,22 +4960,7 @@
       "children": [],
       "content_layer": "body",
       "label": "text",
-      "prov": [
-        {
-          "page_no": 9,
-          "bbox": {
-            "l": 670.7520000000001,
-            "t": 887.0400000000001,
-            "r": 670.7520000000001,
-            "b": 899.7119999999999,
-            "coord_origin": "TOPLEFT"
-          },
-          "charspan": [
-            0,
-            1
-          ]
-        }
-      ],
+      "prov": [],
       "orig": ",",
       "text": ","
     },
@@ -5041,22 +5026,7 @@
       "children": [],
       "content_layer": "body",
       "label": "text",
-      "prov": [
-        {
-          "page_no": 9,
-          "bbox": {
-            "l": 692.784,
-            "t": 899.7119999999999,
-            "r": 692.784,
-            "b": 912.3839999999999,
-            "coord_origin": "TOPLEFT"
-          },
-          "charspan": [
-            0,
-            1
-          ]
-        }
-      ],
+      "prov": [],
       "orig": ".",
       "text": "."
     },
@@ -15297,4 +15267,4 @@
       "page_no": 9
     }
   }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/data/doc/2408.09869v3_enriched.out.dt.json b/test/data/doc/2408.09869v3_enriched.out.dt.json
index fec32692..651cb82c 100644
--- a/test/data/doc/2408.09869v3_enriched.out.dt.json
+++ b/test/data/doc/2408.09869v3_enriched.out.dt.json
@@ -4960,22 +4960,7 @@
       "children": [],
       "content_layer": "body",
       "label": "text",
-      "prov": [
-        {
-          "page_no": 9,
-          "bbox": {
-            "l": 670.7520000000001,
-            "t": 887.0400000000001,
-            "r": 670.7520000000001,
-            "b": 899.7119999999999,
-            "coord_origin": "TOPLEFT"
-          },
-          "charspan": [
-            0,
-            1
-          ]
-        }
-      ],
+      "prov": [],
       "orig": ",",
       "text": ","
     },
@@ -5041,22 +5026,7 @@
       "children": [],
       "content_layer": "body",
       "label": "text",
-      "prov": [
-        {
-          "page_no": 9,
-          "bbox": {
-            "l": 692.784,
-            "t": 899.7119999999999,
-            "r": 692.784,
-            "b": 912.3839999999999,
-            "coord_origin": "TOPLEFT"
-          },
-          "charspan": [
-            0,
-            1
-          ]
-        }
-      ],
+      "prov": [],
       "orig": ".",
       "text": "."
     },
@@ -16044,4 +16014,4 @@
       "page_no": 9
     }
   }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/data/doc/defect_bbox_page.dt b/test/data/doc/defect_bbox_page.dt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c93c7a8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/data/doc/defect_bbox_page.dt
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Assistant: <doctag>
+<text><loc_68><loc_447><loc_445><loc_447>This is valid text with a zero-height bounding box.</text>
+<text><loc_68><loc_447><loc_32><loc_499>This is valid text with a negative-width bounding box.</text>
+</doctag><end_of_utterance>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/data/doc/defect_bbox_page.dt.json b/test/data/doc/defect_bbox_page.dt.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e176211f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/data/doc/defect_bbox_page.dt.json
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+{
+  "body": {
+    "children": [
+      {
+        "$ref": "#/texts/0"
+      },
+      {
+        "$ref": "#/texts/1"
+      }
+    ],
+    "content_layer": "body",
+    "label": "unspecified",
+    "name": "_root_",
+    "self_ref": "#/body"
+  },
+  "form_items": [],
+  "furniture": {
+    "children": [],
+    "content_layer": "furniture",
+    "label": "unspecified",
+    "name": "_root_",
+    "self_ref": "#/furniture"
+  },
+  "groups": [],
+  "key_value_items": [],
+  "name": "Document",
+  "pages": {
+    "1": {
+      "page_no": 1,
+      "size": {
+        "height": 1.0,
+        "width": 1.0
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  "pictures": [],
+  "schema_name": "DoclingDocument",
+  "tables": [],
+  "texts": [
+    {
+      "children": [],
+      "content_layer": "body",
+      "label": "text",
+      "orig": "This is valid text with a zero-height bounding box.",
+      "parent": {
+        "$ref": "#/body"
+      },
+      "prov": [],
+      "self_ref": "#/texts/0",
+      "text": "This is valid text with a zero-height bounding box."
+    },
+    {
+      "children": [],
+      "content_layer": "body",
+      "label": "text",
+      "orig": "This is valid text with a negative-width bounding box.",
+      "parent": {
+        "$ref": "#/body"
+      },
+      "prov": [],
+      "self_ref": "#/texts/1",
+      "text": "This is valid text with a negative-width bounding box."
+    }
+  ],
+  "version": "1.8.0"
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/test_doctags_load.py b/test/test_doctags_load.py
index 5355c2d1..c24989d4 100644
--- a/test/test_doctags_load.py
+++ b/test/test_doctags_load.py
@@ -168,3 +168,17 @@ def test_doctags_inline():
         exp_file=exp,
         actual=deser_doc.export_to_dict(),
     )
+
+
+def test_doctags_handle_defect_bbox():
+
+    doctags_doc = DocTagsDocument.from_doctags_and_image_pairs(
+        [Path("test/data/doc/defect_bbox_page.dt")], None
+    )
+
+    doc = DoclingDocument.load_from_doctags(doctags_doc)
+    exp = "test/data/doc/defect_bbox_page.dt.json"
+    verify(
+        exp_file=exp,
+        actual=doc.export_to_dict(),
+    )