Toothaches just like headaches come at the wrong time. I was recently in McLean, Fairfax County, Virginia visiting some college friends. My weekend trip started off well but on the second day I had this horrible pain in my tooth. I tried taking painkillers but the relief was just temporary. Being a weekend I was sure that no Mclean Dental clinic would be open, never the less I asked my friend. We called a few clinics but as I guessed all were closed for the weekend. Another friend who had come from Rockville gave me an emergency number for a dentist in Rockville, which is 13 miles from McLean. We called the number and after answering a few question I managed to get an appointment for the same day in the evening.
It was just a minor infection and a course of antibiotics did the trick. I naturally had to return to a dentist a week after just for a follow-up and so made an appointment with my dentist for the following week.
Looking back at what happened I realized that did not know if my dentist or another dentist for that matter in my area offered such facilities. I looked online and in the yellow pages for ‘emergency dentist’ but nothing came up. I realized than that despite paying so much for dental care there is no way that Americans can get dental help in an emergency.
A tooth ache is not considered an emergency but patients who are under treatment for implants or any other reconstruction procedure. Patients have to wait for 4 months after the first stage of treatment, what happens if they have an emergency? Is the doctor available for them 24 x 7 or do they need an appointment as well?
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