Guess what? We have dental coverage and over the summer my husband's tooth abcessed and our dentist was out of town for the weekend, I have never, ever seen him in pain like that in my life to the point that I was frantic. The hospital said there was virtually nothing they could do for him, it was dental, not medical.
most hospitals will at least give you antibiotics and painkillers.
That's interesting. My wife had a stroke after neglecting to get an abcessed tooth fixed. She actually had the stroke in the hospital while they goofed around. They finally discharged her, shocked that she couldn't walk. We should have sued their pants off, but the hospital serves a small community as a trauma center, so we didn't. Our dentist badgered my wife's doctor into prescribing some heavy antibiotics. After taking these, she improved immediately. I credit the dentist with saving her life.
Oddly enough, every M.D. involved denied that an abcessed tooth could affect the brain. They insisted that such an infection is encapsulted. I guess M.D.s admit such a possibility only when Bush can be blamed.
And so I assume you went to another dentist...? You let him suffer? Which is it? What's your point?
Man you are not kidding. One rule in this country should be , never get a toothache on a weekend, You are screwed.
But although this poor kid died on a Sunday the fact is his teeth were ignored for a hell of a long time.
It would seem that a good mother would have found some way to get these teeth looked at.
Every dentist I've ever gone to has someone to cover for them when they are out of town, or otherwise unavailable. When you sign up with a dentist, ask what the arrangements are. The denstist I have gone to for 15 years is in a three-person practice. When he had cancer and was undergoing treatment, the other two took care of me. When one of the other two went on maternity leave, the third dentist took care of me. And he had a backup I could get ahold of by calling his answering service. The thing is, don't wait til you have a toothache to identify a good dentist and establish a relationship.
Unfotunately that is the case for many hospitals. If they don't have a Dental call roster, the ER physicians would be exceeding the scope of their license to treat a toothache.
Like I told the other poster,
The hospital I went to with an abscess had a 'resident' dentist that took care of me. It really all depends on the hospital and whether they have a dentist on call.
Okay, my kid? I would take him to every dentist I could find until one pulled the tooth and cleaned it out. They all get paid on installments anyway.
The hospital refused a prescription for antibiotics and pain meds? Did you even go to the hospital?