I'll keep this short because the info you really want is in the link. Usually a periapical abscess is easy to diagnose in a dental office. However, if a patient can't be seen by a dentist they often end up in the emergency room and then often in a hospital room.
As all of us know, hospital care is expensive, especially when compared to the costs in a dental office.
Today's post is from a study titled "Hospital charges and length of stay due to periapical abscess, United States 2020-2022" from the Journal of the American Dental Association. It contains some pretty interesting info. Over the time of the study an average of 300 patients died in a hospital from periapical abscesses. While that's a small number in the grand scheme of how many people live in the US, that's 300 people lost to their families and our world. In my opinion that's tragic.
Then there is the cost associated with hospital stays. The mean charges were $35,042 for the primary diagnosis and $86,600 for a secondary diagnosis.
There is some sad and fascinating data in this article. I believe it is available for anyone to read, not just ADA members. Here is the link. I'd love for some of you to give it a read and let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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