Dental Emergency Care: Better Safe than Sorry

Have you seen the Tom Hanks movie Cast Away where the main character has a toothache but says he’ll go to the dentist when he gets back from a business trip? If you’ve seen it, you know that the guy ends up stranded on a remote island after his plane crashes. When his toothache evolves into a massive painful infection, he decides to knock out his own tooth with the blade of an ice skate using a coconut as a hammer! Yikes! Going to see Dr. Martin or Dr. Taylor for emergency care seems like a much better option, don’t you think?

Do I have to already be a patient to get emergency care?

You do not need to be an established patient at Martin Taylor Dentistry to be seen in an emergency. In fact, according to Dr. Martin, 50% of Americans do not have a regular dentist. Many of those who haven’t been seen by a dentist for a while tend to be the very ones more likely to have an emergency situation.

What constitutes an emergency?

If you ask Dr. Martin what is considered a dental emergency he will answer, “Whatever the patient thinks is an emergency, we think is an emergency. If someone calls and says they have a problem, we try to get them in that same day. We don’t try to determine emergencies over the phone.  If the patient truly wants to be seen that day it’s a fairly good indicator that it is serious. Because we have two doctors available at Martin Taylor Dentistry, we can most often handle emergencies as they are presented to us.”

What are some types of dental emergencies?

A broken or cracked tooth should be tended to as soon as possible. Any time you are experiencing pain you should call the dentist and describe what’s going on. Dental infections can be extremely serious.  Some are life threatening and patients can wind up in the hospital on IV antibiotics. Generally things get this bad when people do not take good care themselves. They know there is a problem but put off going to the dentist until the problem has become extreme. What starts out as simple tooth decay, if left unattended, can become infected which gets into the tissue, nerve, and eventually into the bone.

What if I have an emergency during off hours?

Drs.  Martin and Taylor are available 24/7. If they are not in the office, their answering service contacts them and they immediately call the patient to assess the situation. If necessary they will meet you at the office no matter the time or day but they can also call in a prescription to just get you through the night if they believe that to be the right course of action.

So if you have toothache but are scheduled to catch a flight the next day, call Martin Taylor Dentistry and let them get you in for emergency care before you leave. There’s no guarantee that if you get stranded somewhere there will be an ice skate handy!