As of the writing of this column, on Wednesday March 25, 2020, the state\nand much of the country is shut down. Since information is changing so rapidly,\nand this print is a week old, I am going to concentrate this week on things\nthat will occur regardless of how long it takes for things to return to normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dental offices will NOT be open for routine care for many more weeks at\nthe rate we are going. Dental problems will continue to arise. It is important\nthat you understand what general dentists are considering emergencies vs.\nnon-emergencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, all dental problems, including any questions you have,\nshould be directed to your general dentist. Many of us are doing consultations\nvia video (FaceTime, Zoom, etc.). I have found these to be very helpful in\ndetermining who needs to be seen, and who can wait. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If\nyou do NOT have a general dentist and have a dental problem, PLEASE do NOT go\nto the emergency room.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Please ask family members or friends for recommendations to a general\ndentist. Check their website. Call their office to listen to their message.\nCheck their Facebook page. You should be able to get in touch with a general\ndentist to assess your particular situation. They should be the one who\ndetermines if you should be seen and\/or if you need a referral to a specialist\nfor care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What constitutes a dental emergency? Is a dental emergency different than\nan urgent dental need?<\/p>\n\n\n\n True dental emergencies are not as common as urgent dental care. Dental\nemergencies are potentially life threatening, require immediate treatment to\nstop ongoing bleeding, or alleviate pain or infection. Trauma would also be\nincluded in this category. This would typically not include routine toothaches.\nThe general dentist can use their referral network of specialists as needed for\nthese situations. The emergency room should be used as an absolute last resort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Urgent dental care focuses on management of conditions that require\nattention to relieve discomfort and\/or risk of infection. These should be\ntreated by a general dentist or specialist. Severe tooth pain, dental abscess\nor tooth fracture, missing temporary fillings, or anything else you have\nconcern about should be directed to the general dentist and left to their\ndiscretion on how to handle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Please keep doctors, nurses, all people in healthcare, and anyone else\nwho is potentially at higher risk of exposure due to their profession, in your\nthoughts and prayers during this time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Please do not hesitate to send any non-urgent questions to my email\nbelow. You can also get more up-to-date information at my blog, also listed\nbelow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. St. Clair maintains\na private dental practice in Rowley and Newburyport dedicated to health-centered\nfamily dentistry. If there are certain topics you would like to see written\nabout or questions you have please email them to him at jpstclair@stclairdmd.com<\/a>.\nYou can view all previously written columns at www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As of the writing of this column, on Wednesday March 25, 2020, the state and much of the country is shut down. Since information is changing so rapidly, and this print is a week old, I am going to concentrate this week on things that will occur regardless of how long it takes for things to return to normal. Dental offices will NOT be open for routine care for many more weeks at the rate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1158"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1162,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1158\/revisions\/1162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}