The High Cost of Ignoring Dental Disease Part 1

By Dr. Michelle Aldrich, DMD, For The West Side Newspaper

Our healthcare system has become increasingly fragmented over the decades. We have one doctor for our lungs, another for our skin, perhaps a cardiologist for our heart, an eye doctor for our vision, and even a specialist for our feet. There seems to be a doctor for every system in the body. Yet somehow, the mouth is often treated as though it has little connection to the rest of our body.

Dental disease is a perfect example of why that separation can be costly, not only for the individual, but for our entire community.

Consider a small cavity. It is relatively simple to repair, and the cost is usually manageable. Ignore it and the decay will eventually reach the nerve. From there, infection can spread into the surrounding bone and soft tissue. What began as a small dental problem can become a serious medical emergency.

Sadly, this isn't just theoretical. In 2007, a 12-year-old boy died from a brain abscess caused by an infected upper molar. While this is an extreme example, it illustrates how a dental infection can become much more than a toothache. The risk can be even greater for older adults or people whose health or immune systems are compromised.

Between 2020 and 2022, there were nearly 27,000 hospitalizations in the United States associated with dental abscesses. A hospital visit is enormously more expensive than treating a cavity or infected tooth in a dental office. Those costs ultimately affect all of us through healthcare expenses, insurance premiums, and public healthcare spending.

So, what happens when you go to the emergency room with a dental emergency? You will not see a dentist or an oral surgeon. Hospital emergency departments are designed to stabilize medical emergencies, not provide definitive dental treatment. The ER may provide pain medication or antibiotics, but these generally do not eliminate the source of the infection. The patient is then sent out to find a dentist to solve the problem.

This creates an expensive cycle: untreated dental disease leads to pain and swelling; pain and swelling lead to an emergency-room visit; and the ER visit often leads right back to the need for dental treatment.

Unfortunately, many people put off dental care because they are afraid of the dentist, don't have dental insurance, or simply don't want to spend the money. Others wait because a tooth “doesn't hurt.” But dental disease does not always announce itself with pain. By the time a tooth hurts, the problem may already be significantly advanced.

There is another important financial consideration: the longer dental disease is allowed to progress, the more complicated and expensive treatment can become. A filling may become a root canal and crown. A tooth that could have been saved may eventually require extraction and replacement. What might have been a relatively small expense can become a major financial burden.

The lesson is simple: prevention is almost always cheaper than crisis care. Regular dental examinations allow small problems to be identified and treated before they become larger, more painful, and more expensive.

Your mouth is not separate from your body. Taking care of your teeth may save you money, discomfort, and time — and may prevent a small dental problem from becoming a very big medical one.

In Part 2, we'll discuss how untreated dental disease can affect other systems throughout the body. Stay tuned!