Patients/community members discuss access to care. (2023)
I had it with my daughter. I called the dentist, it was like five o’clock maybe on a Saturday and she was having a really bad toothache. I don’t know if she ate something sweet. I don’t know if she did something, cracked a tooth. I don’t know. I called the dentist, of course they say after hours you call a certain number. I called the other number and they said, “If it’s life-threatening, then you need to just go to the hospital.” I’m like, hospital is no specialty into dental, so I’m going to go there and be waiting. And then they don’t know and they’re just going to give her pain medication. You know what I mean? So it’s no emergency to dental. So I have had that experience numerous of times with my daughter and even one or two myself. So that’s a big issue.