Even in Columbia, MD, Emergency Dentistry is an all too common need. We mentioned in our last blog the scary fact that one in six Americans have had a dental emergency in the past 12 months.
Unfortunately, many of those people are going to the wrong place for emergency dentistry. More than 800,000 ER visits a year are for toothaches and other avoidable dental emergencies.
The truth is, hospital emergency rooms can do very little to help you with an emergency toothache, emergency root canal or other emergency dentistry. The result is usually a hospital fee for hundreds of dollars that leads to you requiring a dentist visit anyway.
In most situations, you can avoid the ER and take your dental emergency right to your dentist.
What Is Considered a Dental Emergency?
First, what is considered a dental emergency? More importantly, what is considered an urgent dental emergency?
Most dentists will allow you to walk in with no appointment in the event of a dental emergency. However, if it is non-urgent, you may not need to rush right to your emergency oral surgeon.
Urgent Dental Emergencies
- Persistent bleeding
- Loose or missing permanent tooth
- Injury or fracture of the jaw or facial bones
- Painful swelling or aching of the tooth
- Signs of infection that could indicate an abscess or an emergency toothache
Non-Urgent Dental Emergencies
- Lost Bridges, Crowns, or Implants
- Damaged or broken teeth that aren’t in severe pain
- Broken retainer, night guard or full dentures
- Mild toothaches
No matter what your dental emergency, contact your dentist immediately and we’ll help you determine the best next steps for your specific situation.
Do They Have Dentists In A Hospital Emergency Room?
In general, hospital emergency rooms do not have a dentist on staff. Walk-ins to an emergency room would be given antibiotics or pain medication and told to contact their dentist.
Not only can they not pull teeth in an emergency room, it is illegal for anyone other than a dentist to perform an emergency tooth extraction, emergency root canal or any other dental care.
When To Go To the Emergency Room
An office that offers emergency dentistry services, like Pineview Dental, works to remain as accessible to patients as possible in the event of a dental emergency. However, there may be urgent situations where it is after hours and you are unable to reach your dentist. In certain situations, you may require an emergency room visit to stabilize you with pain medications or antibiotics.
- Persistent Bleeding
- Intense Pain
- Injury to Facial Bones
Note that in these situations an emergency room can still only provide you with pain medication and may be able to stabilize you if your bleeding is life-threatening. You will still require a dentist visit to treat your dental need. Only resort to the ER for these dental emergencies if you are unable to reach your emergency dentist.
Have any other questions about what to do in a dental emergency in Columbia, MD? Feel free to reach out, we’re happy to help!
Above it says ER cam’t treat or pull teeth. That is false if its infectioned they can treat and rare sotuation will pull teeth. They pulled an abcessed tooth I had years ago. After i could not get an appointment to dentist office.
Thanks for your reply!
Most emergency rooms are not equipped to have someone who can treat dental issues.
I’m happy you were able to..I would venture to say it’s the exception, not the rule
Actually , I went to phoenix thunderbird hospital with the same problem of needing a tooth extracted bc of infection and they got a hold of a dentist and everything and did it right there in the ER room I was assigned . I was extremely grateful even though the dentist that showed was a bit cranky and rough about it . I am not trying to cause an argument , I just wanted to relay that an ER can do it if necessary . Thank you !
I have 4 infected teeth and was on twp rounds of antibiotics. I have no money but have food insurance but still a dentist won’t talk to me without money I’m worried about the infection spreading and thr only sure way to prevent that is by having them pulled. What good is paying a hefty premium if I can’t use it and nobody sees the mouth as important as the rest of the body. The system need an overhaul
When it comes to dental health Care in America and you’re not rich. You don’t give a shit about you America is not a Christian Nation it’s not a nation under God. It’s just a country full of people that just want to do whatever it takes to get rich off of everyone no matter how disrespectful it is they don’t give a shit about human life in this country
This is absolutely ridiculous. Dentistry socks because they’re always too busy or they don’t have enough doctors to take care of patients. On the other hand if you have cash they’re ready to step up to the plate. So you called the hospital the emergency counter and you ask them if you could come in and get your tooth pulled because no one else will pull it. They say no we don’t have dentist on board so if I get in an accident and my teeth are falling out and some need to be pulled do they call a dentist I don’t think so hello. To say they don’t have the equipment to do that is a bunch of crap they have the equipment for all kinds of things. All you need is a couple shots of novocaine and a good pair of pliers and away you go. But the hospital told me no way do we pull a tooth so if you ever get in an accident and you need teeth pulled don’t ever go to the hospital you’ll have to go to the dentist first before they put you into the hospital. This is the craziest thing I have ever heard of in my whole entire life. Money making grab, is all it is money money money.
I recently had two emergency room visits due to an abscessed tooth. I could not get an appointment with a dentist locally for two or more weeks out so the ER was my only choice. Today I received two er visit bills for over 28 hundred dollars to just have two shots in my backside to calm down the infection. They never even looked in my mouth. Now they’re billing me for “Dental treatment” if what I’m reading here is correct they cannot perform dentistry then they sould not bill or code my visit as such. Thank you for the heads up!
I recently had two emergency room visits due to an abscessed tooth. I could not get an appointment with a dentist locally for two or more weeks out so the ER was my only choice. Today I received two er visit bills for over 28 hundred dollars to just have two shots in my backside to calm down the infection. They never even looked in my mouth. Now they’re billing me for “Dental treatment” if what I’m reading here is correct they cannot perform dentistry then they sould not bill or code my visit as such. Thank you for the heads up!
Thanks for providing such comprehensive valuable insights into the limitations of hospital emergency rooms when it comes to dental emergencies. Informative and enlightening read.