A dental emergency can occur at any time of the day or night. Independent of the nature of the emergency, whether it’s a tooth or gum injury you should not ignored it at all cost. By ignoring, you would be risking permanent dental damage or allow for more damage later on which would require extensive and expensive treatment.
Most emergency calls come in when heading home on a Friday night with the caller having broken a tooth, doesn’t have enough money to afford fixing his tooth. Most callers hope that you are going to prescribe them some medication to get them through the weekend. While most dentists find such emergency callers as inconveniencing, the truth of the matter is that they offer one of the best opportunities in the field of dentistry. This is because most of them have neglected their dental health for so long that they would require extensive restorative work.
If you can get to assist such a patient by giving them great medical care such that they are going to forget all the reasons they have to avoid a dentist. If you properly utilize such a chance, you will forever turn the patient’s perception about dentistry and in turn get a loyal patient forever. In addition, the patient is going to be making production for you from the start. It is important that you provide great dental care to your emergency patients so that they realize that dentistry has a value in their life.
In an emergency case like the one above, inform the patient that you will not prescribe any painkillers until you’ve seen them, and would preferably want to see them that night. By doing this, you will get a chance to explain to them more about dentistry hence creating a loyal client.
The truth is always that emergency patients are a crucial part of the business and you don’t want to miss them out. Forward all emergency calls to a cellphone each weekend and nights and rotate the phone among your staff members. Have a plan on how emergency calls will be handled. Never close your doors to any emergency patient.