Finding An Emergency Dentist: What You Should Know

Most people wait until they have an emergency situation to seek out medical care. This is true for both the medical and dental field. Unfortunately, unlike with medical care, finding an emergency dentist can prove to be a little more tricky than just driving down to the emergency room. This tends to be what most people end up doing and is simply not the best course of action. Emergency rooms are great for medical emergencies, but they lack access to a dentist, making looking for an emergency dentist in an ER a futile effort. What ends up happening then is that you have an emergency, or even worse your child does, and you are desperately looking for a provider in San Francisco.

Be ready for a dental emergency before it comes

Turns out that a patient's dentist is more of a traditionalist who does not work at 10 pm Friday night when the patient has a raging toothache. At times like this, people turn to the internet and hopefully stumble across our site so that we can have them come in and receive the necessary treatment. If one is going to use the internet to search for a medical service provider, we do recommend that he or she does so before there is an emergency and take the time to check out reviews online before making an appointment.

Speaking of which, we highly advise folks to take the precaution of having an emergency dentist contact information on their emergency contact list starting today. That way, the patient is not scrambling around with a broken tooth trying to find a person who can put it back together. The best place to start is with one's own dentist for emergency treatment or a recommendation. Ask them if they do emergency dentist work and what that entails.

Find the best recommendation

Most times, if a dentist does not do emergency work, they have a recommendation for someone that does. If they do not have a recommendation, it may be time to change dentists. Patients can also get recommendations from friends and family. Since many people prefer to be familiar with the staff they are dealing with, the patient needs to consider having a dentist that also does emergency dentist work. That way, in an emergency, the patient already knows the place and the people who are going to be caring for his or her teeth.

The one thing we always warn patients about is bleeding. If the patient calls us with a broken or knocked-out tooth, they will need to use a piece of gauze to restrict the bleeding. In any kind of an emergency, there are situations that can escalate quickly and must be treated with the utmost sense of urgency.

If the bleeding is excessive and will not stop with pressure, you need to take it to the next level and call for 911 or get to an emergency room immediately. In either case, being able to reach an emergency dentist in San Francisco for advice and direction is a good idea.