ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Question: Thank you for your article last month about dental visits in the ED. There is no emergency dental clinic in our town so we see a lot of patients with tooth pain. We have aspirated fluid from abscesses and done pain management, but we haven’t done much else to help these patients. How do we know which dental services we’re able to perform in the ED setting?

Michigan Subscriber

Answer: The answer will depend on your state scope of practice laws, which dictate what each specialist can do. If you can’t find the right resource to get the scoop on that, you can contact your state specialty association and ask what’s within your ED physician’s scope of practice.

Once you find out whether your physicians are allowed to perform dental work, you’ll have to evaluate whether your ED is equipped to do it. Most emergency physicians will provide temporary care to keep patients comfortable until they can get to a dentist or dental surgeon, but EDs don’t always have the diagnostic or procedural equipment to treat any complex or underlying dental issues. Treating an abscess or providing comfort for pain are medical rather than dental services, even if they occur in the area of the mouth.