Why Tooth Problems Keep Sending Americans to Emergency Departments

Severe tooth pain, swelling around a tooth, fever, or a bump on the gums should not be ignored. These symptoms can occur with a dental infection, although symptoms alone cannot confirm the cause. A dentist needs to examine the tooth and surrounding tissues. If swelling is spreading or you are having trouble breathing or swallowing, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.

The emergency department can assess how sick you are, help stabilize a serious infection, provide pain relief, and give antibiotics when clinicians determine they are appropriate. But it often cannot provide the definitive dental treatment needed to remove or drain the source of the problem. Contacting a dentist as soon as possible remains important, even if symptoms temporarily improve.

Tooth disorders are a recurring reason for emergency care

A June 2025 report from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics estimated that tooth disorders accounted for an average of 1.944 million emergency-department visits each year during 2020–2022. The rate was 59.4 visits per 10,000 people.

Those figures describe visits during 2020 through 2022, not current-year totals. The report also found that adults ages 25 to 34 represented the largest share of tooth-disorder emergency visits, at 29.2%. Medicaid was the primary expected source of payment for 55.4% of these visits.

The payment pattern does not prove that insurance status caused an infection or an emergency visit. It does, however, fit with a broader concern identified in dental-health research: people who cannot obtain timely preventive or urgent dental care may turn to hospital emergency departments when pain or infection becomes difficult to manage.

Warning signs that should prompt urgent dental care

Contact a dentist promptly if you have:

A severe, persistent, throbbing, or shooting toothache
Pain when chewing or biting
Sensitivity to hot or cold that continues after the trigger is gone
A swollen or red area on the gums, especially a pimple-like bump
A bad taste, drainage, or foul breath near a painful tooth
Fever, unusual fatigue, or a general feeling of being unwell
Swollen glands in the neck
Swelling of the jaw, cheek, or face

A tooth abscess is a pocket of pus caused by a bacterial infection in or around a tooth. Pain can sometimes ease if pressure is released, but that does not necessarily mean the infection has gone away. According to MedlinePlus, an untreated abscess can continue to spread and damage surrounding tissue.

When a dental infection becomes an emergency

Seek emergency care immediately if you have signs that the infection may be affecting your airway or overall condition. These include:

Difficulty breathing or swallowing
Rapidly increasing swelling of the face, mouth, jaw, or neck
Confusion, faintness, or severe weakness
Inability to open the mouth normally along with significant swelling
High fever or rapidly worsening illness

Do not wait for a routine appointment when breathing or swallowing is becoming difficult. The American Dental Association advises patients with life-threatening emergencies to call 911 or go immediately to the emergency department of the nearest hospital.

What the emergency department can—and cannot—do

Hospital clinicians can check for signs that an infection is spreading, assess breathing and swallowing, manage pain, and provide antibiotics when the clinical situation calls for them. Severe infections may require drainage, surgery, or hospital admission.

However, emergency-department treatment is often not definitive dental care. A damaged or infected tooth may still need a root canal, drainage, extraction, or another procedure by a dentist or oral surgeon. A peer-reviewed analysis archived by the CDC found that emergency-department visits for nontraumatic dental conditions commonly resulted in nondefinitive care and referral elsewhere.

That follow-up remains important simply because the pain improves. Pain relief or temporary treatment may reduce symptoms while the underlying problem remains.

Why antibiotics are not the whole treatment

Antibiotics can be important when a dental infection has systemic involvement, such as fever or malaise, or when a clinician determines that the infection is spreading. But ADA guidance recommends against antibiotics for most pulpal and periapical dental pain and localized swelling when definitive dental treatment is available.

In those situations, treatment that addresses the tooth or drains the infection generally takes priority. Depending on the problem, that may include a root canal procedure, drainage, or removal of the tooth. Antibiotics do not repair decay, remove infected tissue inside a tooth, or replace source control.

Do not use leftover antibiotics or someone else’s prescription. The right treatment depends on the cause, the extent of infection, allergies, other health conditions, and whether dental care is immediately available.

What readers can do today

Call a dentist and describe the warning signs. Ask whether the office offers same-day or after-hours emergency appointments.
Be specific about swelling, fever, drainage, and swallowing or breathing symptoms. These details help staff triage the urgency.
If you do not have a regular dentist, contact a local dental society, community health center, dental school clinic, or your insurer’s member-services line for urgent-care options.
Go to the emergency department or call 911 for breathing or swallowing difficulty, rapidly spreading swelling, confusion, or severe illness.
Ask about the follow-up plan before leaving urgent or emergency care. Confirm who will provide the dental treatment that addresses the source of the problem.

Insurance coverage, Medicaid dental benefits, appointment availability, and out-of-pocket costs vary by state, plan, and provider. If cost is delaying care, tell the dental office when you call and ask about payment plans, community clinics, or other lower-cost options.

Dental infections and other painful tooth disorders are often treatable, especially when addressed early. The safest approach is to treat persistent pain, swelling, or fever as a reason to seek prompt dental evaluation—and to treat airway symptoms or rapidly worsening illness as an emergency.

Key sources

Editorial note: Weence articles are researched from cited public-health, medical, regulatory, journal, and reputable news sources and may be drafted with AI assistance. They are checked for source support, clarity, and safety guardrails before publication.

This article is for general informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Research findings can be early or incomplete, and health guidance can change. Always talk with a qualified healthcare professional about personal symptoms, diagnosis, medications, vaccines, screenings, or treatment decisions. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call emergency services right away.