Weekend Dental Emergency

By: Ashleigh
**UPDATED 02/13/2019**

It is Saturday evening.  You finally put the last child into bed (for the 5th time) and you sit down on the couch with your loved one to catch up on all the DVR'd shows you missed during your hectic week.  You take a sip of your drink and WHOA!  Tooth pain.  You take another drink to be sure it wasn't a fluke and it happens, again!  OW!

You are at lunch on Friday with co-workers and discussing what you will be doing over the weekend.  You take a bite of your sandwich...CRUNCH!  You think, "What is in my sandwich?"  Further investigation leads to noticing that you just broke a tooth.

It is Sunday and the toothache that you've been putting off for 3 weeks suddenly peaks into something unbearable.

On Monday morning there are usually a few calls from patients that experienced similar situations.  Some will have suffered the whole weekend waiting to call when our office is open because they do not want to interrupt Dr. Jones' weekend.  We want to let our patient's know that we never want you to suffer for longer than you need to.  We leave Dr. Jones' emergency contact number on our voicemail message for a reason.  Often times, she can either give you some ideas to make you more comfortable until she can see you, or in more severe cases call in a prescription or even come in over the weekend.  Remember, this is only for our Patients of Record...Dr. Jones has a list...she knows!

We know people like examples, so here are a few situations that we consider Emergency or Non-Emergency:

Emergency: Experiencing swelling of gum or face.
Non-Emergency: Asking if tooth whitening really works.

Emergency: Severe pain that wakes you up at night.
Non-Emergency: Questions about dental benefits or your Billing Statement.

Emergency: Trauma to gums and teeth
Non-Emergency: chit chat about weekend plans (although, we do like to talk about what happened over the weekend...just while you are in the dental chair).

What happens if you lose a crown after office hours?  Call and leave us a message with your name and contact number.  Our office will call you back on our next business day to schedule an appointment.  Keep the crown in a safe location until you can see us.  Keep the area clean by continuing to brush (gently).  Having a crown come off is considered a non-emergency, unless there is pain/swelling, or the tooth is front and center and you are a Keynote Speaker.

In conclusion unless you are having pain/swelling with a tooth, please leave a message on our office voicemail and our office will call you to make an appointment.  If you call Dr. Jones, she will tell you to leave a message on the voicemail...so just skip the middle-woman!