If a person has toothache during the weekend what should she/he do?

Can you go to the ER for this? Or can a 24h tele medicine through my insurance carrier be enough to have an antibiotic / pain killer for something like this?

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BabyLegsOShanahan t1_j26t7fa wrote on December 30, 2022 at 1:48 AM

Try urgent care or see if there are any emergency dental offices open on Saturdays.

Darklighter10 t1_j27gvfw wrote on December 30, 2022 at 4:49 AM

ER. This happened to me a few years ago, was in a lot of pain, went to Beth Israel ER. Had an infection that formed an abscess. They drained it and gave me antibiotics, easy peasy.

pra_com001 t1_j26v963 wrote on December 30, 2022 at 2:03 AM

There are some over the counter pain medications such as Tylenol or Lidocaine. Apply some clove oil on the infected tooth.

Richconstructi0n t1_j26udcq wrote on December 30, 2022 at 1:56 AM

Google search for emergency appointment dentists or urgent care dentists, there are many in the city and surrounding neighborhoods. Usually medical insurance doesn’t cover dentists but you can find affordable ones.

Greenline DentalCare, as an example, helped someone I know with a holiday dental issue

If you think you need a root canal or wisdom tooth extraction you may need a specialist like an endodontist.

ChrisH100 t1_j26ukbp wrote on December 30, 2022 at 1:58 AM

ER with a dentistry usually has a dentist on call, someone asked this earlier this week I think?

wintersicyblast t1_j26yadk wrote on December 30, 2022 at 2:25 AM

Most dentist have an emergency line and either have someone on call or can call in antibiotics until you can get in. There are also several dentists open on Saturday.

ppomeroy t1_j2bn0ju wrote on December 31, 2022 at 1:29 AM

Generally the ER. Tooth pain is almost always due to an infection (I am not a doctor, etc, etc). The ER will provide an antibiotic that will, in many instances, reduce the pain.

For over the counter visit a pharmacy and get Anbesol, which is a brand name fo ra lidocaine product that is a topical anesthetic that will usually also kill the pain but it can and will wear off after a while. There are generics as well but given the current situation with OTC meds, you may have to go to more than one pharmacy to locate this. I had a family member in such a situation and 2 of us were driving to multiple pharmacies to locate this topics med. We did finally find some.

If you cannot get in to a dentist, consider the dental schools at Boston Medical and at Tufts Medical. You will be seeing a senior student but the teacher will be right there observing and coaching.