Defining and Differentiating a Dental Emergency With A.T. Still University Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health

Dental pain can be excruciating and frightening. Too often, people who are in pain choose to go to a hospital emergency room (ER) for immediate care. However, dental emergencies are usually not considered medical emergencies, and many ERs do not have a dentist on staff or the requisite dental equipment.

A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported tracked trends and dental emergencies in overcrowded hospital ERs and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement highlighted ER department overcrowding with a recent blog post.

At the St. Louis Dental Center, an innovative federally qualified health center partnership between A.T. Still University Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-MOSDOH) and Affinia Healthcare, the Centene Urgent Dental Care Clinic helps patients avoid possible long waits and overcrowded ERs. Open from Monday to Friday, the clinic’s urgent care dentists help the community identify urgent and nonurgent cases and treatment plans.

“This is a tremendous resource for our community, and we are almost always busy, with Mondays and Fridays being the busiest,” said Isaac Coronel, D.M.D., an Urgent Care Dentist at the St. Louis Dental Center and Affinia Healthcare clinics. Saturday mornings and after-hours service delivery is available at the 1500 Park Ave. location in St. Louis, MO, through a collaboration with Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

The urgent care dentist listens to the patients’ complaints and looks for lesions and growths, swelling and trauma. Sometimes only vague complaints are offered, such as an earache, feeling of pressure or burning sensation and jaw pain. Some patients report their wisdom teeth must be coming in and that pains them. Urgent care dentists do what they can to “fix” the problem.

“Our work in diagnosing the problem requires a lot of critical thinking, which is something I truly enjoy,” said Dr. Coronel. “We also strive to develop the best possible treatment plan for the patient.”

“When we do our initial workup, we may also discover that they have uncontrolled high blood pressure. We educate our patients about the importance of monitoring their blood pressure and refer them to a primary care physician for follow-up,” added Heba Sarhan, D.M.D., an Urgent Care Dentist at the St. Louis Dental Center and Affinia Healthcare clinics.

The following are guidelines provided to patients during their visit to the urgent care clinic:

Basic Dental Emergency Guidelines

• If the problem can wait for a dental appointment, it is a nonurgent dental emergency.
• Intense pain is a dental emergency even though it may be the result of a chronic condition.
• Injuries, such as tooth chips and fractures or soft-tissue trauma and bleeding, are dental emergencies.
• If a traumatic dental emergency impacts swallowing or breathing or involves a serious mouth injury, this is diagnosed as a critical dental emergency and referred to the closest hospital ER.

Preventive Tips and Oral Health Reminders

• Try over-the-counter pain relievers.
• Try to reduce swelling and numb the discomfort by applying a cold compress to the sore area on the cheek.
• Try to avoid very hot or cold drinks and food.
• Try to rinse your mouth with warm water to clean the area.
• Try to use floss if something is wedged between your teeth.
• Continue to monitor the pain and other mouth symptoms.
• Schedule regular dental visits to identify potential issues before they turn into emergencies.
  

“When patients utilize the St. Louis Dental Center urgent care services, we view this as an opportunity, a gateway to guide those patients into our comprehensive care system,” said Dr. Sarhan. “We encourage all of our patients to consider the St. Louis Dental Center as their dental home for ongoing and preventive oral health care.”