Many Americans in this vulnerable group have turned to our limited safety net system for episodic dental care. The need for dental care is so great that people often resort to hospital emergency rooms to alleviate their dental pain. Over the past ten years, the number of dental emergency room (ER) visits in the U.S. has doubled. From 2008-10 more than 4 million dental patients went to ERs, with a total cost of over $2.7 billion.^1,2 Nebraska has seen this same alarming trend in our statewide hospital ERs. The Nebraska Hospital Association (NHA) annually collects ER data from 89 private and public hospitals.³ They track the nine most common dental conditions (ICD-9-CM 521-529), and reported that from 2003-13 the number of dental ER visits has risen 81% from 4,829 to 8,756 patients per year.⁴ These data points demonstrate the historical trend of ER use for dental care in Nebraska, starting with a baseline of 4,829 visits in 2003.

Sources:

1. American Dental Association. Morning Huddle; 11/06/2014.

2. Association of Health Care Journalists, Otto, M. Lack of Access to Dental Care Leads to Expensive Emergency Room Care; 4/8/2014. Available at: http://healthjournalism.org/blog/2014/04/lack-of-a....

3. Nebraska Hospital Association. Homepage. Retrieved Date: 03/10/2015. Available at: http://www.nebraskahospitals.org/.

4. Nebraska Department of Health and Human Service. Hospital Discharge Information; 2003-2013.