Can you see a dentist if you don't have dental insurance or one of the discount plans?

A friend of mine doesn't have dental coverage at the moment and he needs to see a dentist right away. He has an infection/abcess and he's in a lot of pain. Is there something like an ER for dental emergencies?





--Nashville, TN

Can you see a dentist if you don't have dental insurance or one of the discount plans?
You can see them but you need to pay.





One choice is that dental schools have minimal cost care (performed by supervised students) that could help you. Look in local phone book for them.
Reply:You can certainly go and pay cash.





Otherwise, some dentists offer, I forget what it's called, but something like 'pay-as-you-can' plans. Get out the phone book and start calling dentists with that question. I live in California, and out here Western Dental, a chain, offers that program, I don't know if they have that chain where you live.





Check with your city and/or county government too, they may have subsidy programs for low-income or uninsured people.
Reply:Nashville is a big town. Check the Yellow Pages. About half of my patients do NOT have dental insurance. Insurance is not a requirement to get a dental appointment.
Reply:Sure. Many people don't have insurance. Ask the dentist what it will cost and if they have payment plans.
Reply:Some dentists are willing to work with patients on monthly payments... call all your local dentists and see if any of them offer this option.
Reply:Yes, you can do it the good old way by paying the dentist for his service, or financing such service if very costly. You can contact any dental faculty in the local u and see if they can help treat you as a demo..it might work if you do not or want not to pay.
Reply:Around here they can't deny you service. I don't have insurance either. It's costly, but the dental office was able to set up an effective repayment plan for me.
Reply:If you cannot get a dentist to treat you at a price you can afford, you should look in your phone book under "Dental Clinics". I frequently suggest this course of action to many of the people who call me and ask for help with their dental emergency.
Reply:Im not sure how it works in your state. But find some public dental sites, often I think they will help.


Im living in Seattle, Wa and there're many public dental sites that do take walk-in and ER.


OFten new patients have to go there very early iin the morning like 6:45am to be in since the whole day is for their current patients.


Anyway, the cost here is flexible and if you dont have insurance or coupon, youll need to provide the very recent 2 pay checks (copy of the attached parts), or your last year income tax. Base on that theyll charge you a very affordable cost, no matter what kind of treatmet you have (e.g., the normal cost for a specific type of treatment is $200 but when your range charge is on a level that costs $50 based on yo income, then u'll only have to pay $50 for every visit/procedure).


Hope this help,
Reply:Check into the services offered at Meharry Medical College. They have a dental schools there and offer extremely discounted services since it's done for teaching purposes.