Emergency Dental Treatment
Have questions about what qualifies as emergency dental treatment? Our dentists took some time to share information and answer common patient questions to help educate about what a dental emergency is and what you should do in case of a dental emergency. View the table of contents below to learn more or find your question and get an answer from one of our dentists!
The following content was provided by Dr. Michael DesRosiers, LVIF Certified General Dentist, and has been medically reviewed for accuracy. Some relevant links have been added to audio transcripts to provide resources for additional information.
Table of Contents:
Click a question below to be taken directly to that answer.
What counts as emergency dental treatment?
Answer provided by Dr. Michael DesRosiers. Transcript included below.
Dr. Michael DesRosiers:
There are a lot of things that can be considered emergency dental treatment. Certainly, something that would cause pain in your mouth, any swelling, a fracture of a tooth, these are all emergency dental needs. What’s an emergency to a patient is different from person to person. We have a lot of people that just try to endure something that’s bothering them a little bit. And then others, as soon as anything seems off, that’s an emergency. And it’s fine. I just always encourage people to, if you have a question, just make the call. And we’ll triage the patients and see if there’s something we can do without seeing the patient on an emergency basis to get them through and make them comfortable. We’ll do that. And if they need to be seen, we’ll make sure that they get seen.
How do I know if I need emergency dental treatment?
Answer provided by Dr. Michael DesRosiers. Transcript included below.
Dr. Michael DesRosiers:
Same thing. The best thing to do, if you have a question, is to call the office, call the dentist’s office and tell him what’s going on and we’ll decide. If you feel like it’s something that’s pressing, that it’s going to get worse, don’t hesitate to call ever. Just call up and we’ll be happy to walk you through it and see if an office visit is necessary or something can be done without having the patient come in, or if it’s just information that you need, and just reassurance.
With today’s technology, it’s kind of neat. We’re able to do some actual tele-dentistry where we can, with phones and things like that, take pictures and videos. And the doctor can see what’s going on, at least empirically, without physically seeing you, being in the same place. So that’s a real benefit and that’s helped in this time, help avoid a lot of unnecessary appointments.
