This question came up and I honestly see both sides of it.
Should a dentist be required by law, to not refuse someone medical attention, kinda like an emergency room visit…to preform emergency dental procedures,, like an extraction ? Even if they can’t pay up front or have insurance??

For those of us who have had a bad toothache… we absolutely know how painful and debilitating it is..
But there’s also those people who would absolutely stiff the dentist for his services.

Stiff the dentist?

Dentists should turn them over to a collection agency....maybe ruin their credit...if they have any credit to start with.

If not, then pay up front.

I’m not sure I can say either way , but I do hate that health insurance and dental insurance aren’t considered intertwined.

An infection in a tooth can cause a heart issue . You’d think a heath insurance company would want to stay on top of that.

Are you sure they are not already?? Thinking if you go to the ER with a badly infected tooth that they will treat it...... but I could be wrong on that.

most ERs have a dentist on call for emergency extractions needed if you are going to go septic

YT30, the hospital procedure was then to Rx antibiotics and analgesics as needed and recommend that the patient go to a dentist. I ASSUME that is still the current procedure.......jk

In my neck of the woods,, yes,,, it’s still a thing…
There was a fella here who was in some serious pain because of his tooth and couldn’t find a dentist to help him without money up front or dental insurance.

Have injured myself alot in my life doing dumb stuff. Dont think any pain has been worse than an absessed wisdom tooth.

No. The government should not be able to force small, privately owned businesses to perform services they do not want to perform.

Hospitals operate by rules that are a little bit different. A large corporate entity like most hospitals usually have more protections and often even federal funding to help them when patients do not pay or are uninsured. A small, private dental practice has none of that. The cost of running a dental practice is very high. People routinely steal from the dentist and because it's a service there is no legal recourse except enlisting the services of a collections agency. You are lucky to get 30% of the money owed you even then. That won't even cover expenses. People not paying for services rendered is theft but because it's a service there's little you can do. Forcing providers to do work even when they won't get paid is not a recipe for high quality service and healthcare.

The "free" services should be relegated to the ER where true emergencies belong. Remember, "free" just means someone else is paying for it.

Now if the Secretary of Health wants to get together with the IRS and offer a dollar for dollar reduction of taxes for "free" and unpaid services rendered, that might gain some traction with healthcare providers.

Well said.