Dentist responsibilities for emergencies

A revealing measure of a dentist’s level of care and commitment to patients’ needs can be found in the way they deal with emergencies. A dentist must care for regular patients and respond to their emergencies, either personally or through a roster of cooperating dentists. Patients requesting emergency treatment are, at best, being inconvenienced and, at worst, may be in severe pain or distress. It usually arises when a practitioner is called out from his or her residence after normal practice hours, or a hospital, to render emergency treatment. It can also happen if the practitioner operates more than one practice and attends each practice for certain hours or days of the week, effective emergency arrangements have to be made for patients during times when the practitioner is not attending to the practice or when not staffed.