Having the need for emergency dental treatment is never pleasant, even if it happens at home and you can call on your local dentist for help. However, there are often people who need emergency dental treatment when they are away from home, and on those occasions, the options are often not as clear.
One prime example of this is when someone is in Bali, either because they’re there on holiday, or they had otherwise planned to have other dental treatment, such as cosmetic dentistry. Regardless of why they are there, the question arises as to what you can and should do if they need for emergency treatment arises whilst you are in Bali.
The first piece of advice we can give you is not to panic, and that applies whether you are in Bali or any other country for that matter. All places you are likely to visit will have local dentists, and assuming you have some form of travel insurance, arrangements should be able to be made quickly for you to see a dentist as soon as possible.
Even without travel insurance that would cover your medical costs, in many countries, including Bali, the price of emergency dental treatment is a lot lower than it is in Australia, so should you need to pay for treatment at the time, the cost should be much less than you might have expected it to be.
One thing that might be somewhat confusing is determining what is classed as emergency dental treatment, and which treatments come under the umbrella of cosmetic dental treatment. If someone suddenly lost a tooth, they claim replacing it with a dental implant and crown, is an emergency, whilst others might say that should be considered cosmetic dental treatment.
A lost tooth certainly would be regarded as emergency dental treatment, as would any of the following symptoms or conditions if they arose:
- Broken or cracked tooth
- Missing or loose fillings
- Misaligned or loose teeth
- Lost dentures or bridge
- Constant or severe pain in teeth and gums
Other conditions such as a crown coming loose would not normally be classed as an emergency however that does not mean that you cannot have it fixed whilst you are in Bali.
For this, and more importantly, for an emergency, the first stage is to actually find a dentist who can take care of the issue. There are several dental practices that are particularly popular with Australian visitors so they should normally be the first ones to look up.
Obviously, you want to check they undertake emergency dental treatment, and that they have a reputation that reassures you that they employ professional and skilled dentists. Again, we suggest you look for the more mainstream ones, which might cost a little bit more, than seeking out some back-street dentist who is the cheapest.
One tip that might seem obvious, but in reality, few people follow is to remember the mantra, ‘hope for the best, prepare for the worst. In other words, if you are traveling to Bali, or anywhere else for that matter, do some research on dentists, and other medical professionals such as doctors or opticians, before you travel.
Look for reputable clinics that are close to where you are going to be living whilst you are there, and then if the worst should happen you are not frantically trying to find one, but instead, you just call the number of the dentist you have already researched.
