Forced to wait for emergency treatment?

[verloren1983]

I haven't been to the dentist since I was 13 (I'm 34 now), and my teeth are in quite a state to put it mildly. One of my back teeth is causing excrutiating pain to the point where I'm actually contemplating going to the dentist for an emergency appointment just to get the pain to stop! My sister, however, tells me that a dentist will insist on doing an exam/consultation and a cleaning before they'll even touch the painful tooth, and that has me in a panic. Can they do that? Would they do that? It doesn't sound even remotely ethical. I can't wait weeks for them to do multiple appointments- plus them trying to touch/clean anywhere near the tooth would be pure agony, and the thought just increases my anxiety about the whole thing. I understand that if it's infected, they may give me antibiotics and not treat the tooth until the infection is clear, but that's a different thing in my mind.

She also told me that if I need a root canal, that's $6000 and months on a waiting list. Which is also terrifying, but somehow sounds more far fetched than the first part does.

Could any of this be accurate? Help. (I'm in the US, New York state to be more specific.)

 

[FearfulInMA]

I honestly think it depends on the dentist. You may need to call around, but I do think that most dentists will do what that can do to get you out of pain first and then work with you to make a plan for whatever else may need to be done.

What she told you about a root canal (which I wouldn’t even worry about until you know what is needed) doesn’t sound at all right. It should not be anywhere near $6k in upstate NY and, if it’s because of a painful tooth, hopefully a dentist can refer you to someone who can see you quickly. Depending on where you are and the availability of dentists/endodontists who do root canals, the time might vary.

I’m also going to send you a message through the app.

 

[verloren1983]

It seems rather inhumane to me. Like someone going to the doctor with a broken leg, and the doctor refusing to treat the leg until they did an introductory appointment and a full physical. Really? How is that in any way beneficial to the patient?

Sorry, don't mean to go off on you, obviously it's not your fault, it just upsets me.

It's good to know it probably won't be that. I guess I've been letting my brain mull over the possibilities too much. What else am I going to do when I can't sleep?

 

[verloren1983]

Update!

I realized last night that the tooth had definitely abscessed, which further incentivized me to call this morning. Snagged an appointment for 9:30 (I'd called at almost 9, so I didn't even have time to shower first, just had to run out the door basically! Talk about making a first impression with my smelly self and awful teeth! On the upside, it didn't give me any time to waffle around and get increasingly anxious about it while I waited to leave.)

So they did x-rays and whatnot, and sure enough, I ended up with a script for an antibiotic and a pain med so I can sleep, because the infection is severe enough that she doesn't want to touch the tooth right now. I have an appointment in two days to get the tooth pulled. Thank god, she did not insist on doing a cleaning or anything before treating me.

At least the dentist was nice. She was even polite enough to not tell me that my teeth are a train wreck, and simply said "....there's a lot going on" when she saw the x-rays. She did, however, make note that most of my teeth will have to go at some point and get dentures, which is pretty close to the worst case scenario that I'd been afraid of. So that's not good. Nothing I'm surprised by, but not good.

Also apparently the only dentists my insurance covers are the super sketchy ones, so I'm having to pay out of pocket for this. YIKES. Thank god I work for a retail pharmacy chain and thus get pretty decent prescription coverage, so the scripts were almost nothing. Almost, but not really, makes up for the fact the actual work is expensive, but I clearly can't afford to put off at least this one tooth any longer. Next year will have to see if I can get dental that somebody around here actually *takes* and maybe start working on the other stuff. Maybe. If I'm very brave.