See How Our Emergency Care Is Different
It’s funny because, of course, when’s the most emergencies happen? Saturday nights, Sunday afternoons, right? That’s when they mostly happen. They never happen Tuesday at 11:30. Right? They always happen at the strangest times. And patients, at least our patients, because we befriend them so much, I hear the word, “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” I’m like, “Look, I signed up for this. This is what I do.”
Cell phones have become great. Like, “My kid broke a tooth playing baseball.” I’m like, “All right, send me a picture.” I’m like, “Okay, as a mom, don’t panic. We have time with this one because I can tell from the picture, A, B, C.” Or they’ll send me a picture, I’m like, “Okay, you need to meet me at the office as soon as possible. What works for you tonight? If tonight doesn’t work, what works for you tomorrow? I need to see them to address this as soon as possible.” But everybody’s opinion of what emergencies is different. It’s our job to figure out how big of an emergency is.
We had an emergency this morning where a gentleman was getting some swelling to the point where his eye was starting to close, okay? This is a legitimate emergency. So we made sure that, right away, we got him into the local oral surgeon to address that issue. That is something that cannot wait. We stay late whenever we have to. Emergencies are seen on a daily basis based on how big their emergency really is. And again, everybody’s idea of emergency is different. Like, “Oh, I’m starting to get a little swelling over here maybe.” Okay, is that really an emergency? Or, “My tooth is throbbing and it’s broken in half.” Which one’s more of an emergency? We, kind of, have to judge basis by basis, but true emergencies, we see on a daily basis.