Most dentist offices across the U.S. are closed to all but emergency procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. By remaining open for emergency cases, dentists are helping to keep patients out of emergency rooms (ER) – reducing the burden on critical health care facilities that are overwhelmed amid the COVID-19 crisis.
With 76% of dental offices only accepting emergency cases at their physical offices, teledentistry allows you to collect vital information ahead of patient visits, saving time and reducing possible exposure to COVID-19. Prescreening with teledentistry is the safer way to quickly review cases, triage emergency appointments and assure patients with non-emergencies they can be seen at a later date. Visit our COVID-19 Resource Center to explore how teledentistry can help your dental practice.
While dentists may not be seeing patients for routine exams, x-rays and other elective care, they can still play an important role during these unprecedented times. In response to the strained health care system, a social media grassroots movement has sprung up with the goal of getting the message out that we need to preserve the capacity of our hospital emergency departments and urgent care centers. The message of this movement is simple: Keep dental emergencies (#DentalER) out of emergency rooms.
View the infographic below to see how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected dental offices, what is considered a dental emergency and stats on emergency department visits from the American Dental Association (click the image to download and share the high-resolution PDF).
As you can see, dental emergencies not only account for a high number of emergency room visits during normal times, they are also more expensive. Keeping dental emergencies out of emergency rooms is a simple way to assure more hospital beds are open to those who need them.
Today, leveraging teledentistry technology is the patient care solution that will help your practice keep dental emergencies out of the hospital to lessen the burden on the healthcare system and to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.
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