Emergency department visits for dental care of nontraumatic origin

Abstract

ED visits for dental problems of nontraumatic origin are not insignificant. Over the study period, these visits were greater than for diabetes and hypertensive diseases. Policy efforts are needed to provide alternative options for seeking emergency dental care in Ontario.

The 1% of emergency room visits for non-traumatic dental conditions in British Columbia: Misconceptions about the numbers

“…10 In BC, 12 357 non-traumatic dental visits were made to ERs in 2013-2014 (268/100 000 people), with patients between the ages of 1 and 113 years somewhat evenly distributed in terms of gender, including multiple visits by the same patient over that same fiscal year. 7 The majority of the ER visits (70%) in BC for non-traumatic dental conditions consisted of working-age adults between the ages of 20 and 64 years with a common complaint related to non-urgent ‡ and preventable diseases, including dental and periapical abscesses (22.7%), toothache (18.1%) and dental caries (8.8%), 7 as found by Quiñonez and colleagues 6 and others 11 ; 70% of these visits were identified as non-urgent. The majority (98%) of these non-urgent dental patients were seen and discharged within a two-hour average time frame (e.g., the amount of time it takes between entering the ER for registration and being discharged or admitted to a hospital bed).…”

“…[3][4][5] Low-income Canadians remain at greater risk for oral diseases and may rely on emergency rooms (ERs) to seek pain relief, placing an extra burden on the already over-stretched Canadian health care system. 6 Despite representing about 1% of the 16 million visits* made to ERs across Canada every year and not more than 1% of the $1.8 billion that these visits cost to Canadians, 7 we argue that these percentages are an underestimation of the actual impact for the health care expenditures as a whole.…”

Trends in emergency department visits for non-traumatic dental conditions in Ontario from 2006 to 2014

“…6 National-level data in the United States suggest that, over a 10-year period, ED visits for NTDC increased and at a faster rate than for all ED visits combined. 7 Yet, in Canada, most studies on ED visits for NTDC present data for only one or two years; 4,5 only one has presented trend data, but it was limited to homeless adults over a four-year period in one Ontario municipality. 3 Trend data are important, as they give researchers and policy-makers the ability to explore patterns in a given outcome, and allow for hypothesis formulation on potential environmental exposures and their effects on such trends.…”

“…Further, though most studies on ED visits for NTDC in Canada quantify the burden, they do not report on the predictors of such visits either at the individual or area-based level. 4,5 What is known has relied on data on self-reported ED visits for NTDC in Canada, and suggests that cost barriers to dental care, oral pain, and bed days due to dental problems are predictors of such visits. 8,9 As a result of the above, this study aims to assess trends in ED visits for NTDCs in Ontario from 2006 to 2014, and to explore socio-demographic and geographic predictors of such visits.…”

Dental emergencies in a university pediatric dentistry clinic: a retrospective study

“…5 Studies have shown that most emergency visits result from dental decay. [6][7][8] Due to the described signs and symptoms, the emergency visits can Declaration of Interests: The authors certify that they have no commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the manuscript.…”