Hospital Emergency Department and Dental Trauma

Author: Kimberly N. Powell, DDS, MS, FAGD

If you have dental trauma/dental emergency and go to the hospital emergency department and there is a dentist or oral surgeon on call, that is the ideal situation. However, that is not always the case, as those dental providers are not routinely there. Patients who were treated in the ED for dental emergencies have said pain medication and sometimes antibiotics were given, but no dental treatment performed and at times the teeth/oral cavity was not evaluated. It is understandable that the ED is where you would go when a dental emergency happens especially when you cannot get in contact with your dentist or do not have one. At Spring Lake Dental Group, we provide after hours and weekend emergency services. Some patients contact the providers directly or the office manager will relay the information to the doctors. In some cases instructions can be given over the phone or arrangements made to meet at the office after normal business hours. Yes, this happens! We have provided emergency care on both Saturday and Sunday evenings in the past. We provide this service so our patients do not have to deal with pain or trauma until the next business day. It is in our mission statement that we always strive to treat patients like family. Hopefully you will not have any dental emergencies pop up, but if you do your Spring Lake Dental Group family is here for you!