All About After-Hours Emergency Services

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What constitutes an after-hours emergency?
Dental emergencies range from a crown that has come off to an infected painful tooth. Infections and pain should always be dealt with sooner rather than later while most of the time, a non-painful chipped tooth can wait until the business day. If in doubt give us a call.

What can be done after hours?
Because of the lack of a full team after hours, we are not able to do major complex treatments after hours. Instead, we focus on getting you out of pain or put back together esthetically. Recementing a crown, placing a temporary filling, draining an infection, prescribing antibiotics, triaging traumatic injuries and evaluating needs over the phone are all things that can be done after hours.

Do I need to come in or can it be handled over the phone?
Many times problems can be handled over the phone with advice and/or medications called into a pharmacy(although we can’t prescribe pain medication over the phone anymore.)

Is there an extra charge for an after-hours visit?

Mostly yes. There is an extra charge for after-hours visits with some exceptions such as recementing a temporary crown on a patient that is currently in treatment with us.

Is there a charge for an after-hours phone call?

Generally no. There are rare exceptions such as a call that turns into a lengthy consultation or repeated calls that are the result of not following our advice.

Can you call in a prescription to my pharmacy?

The State of California does not allow us to phone in prescriptions for pain medications anymore but antibiotics and other medications can be.

How do I get ahold of the office after hours?

Call the office at 805-388-5700 and the voicemail will direct you to call 805-677-4526 and then our answering service will track us down. We do suggest you call the office first to make sure we aren’t open for business otherwise there will be a delay. Our answering service can track us down wherever we are by contacting our cell phones, but we don’t have them on us when we are working during normal working hours.

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