I'm looking for evidence that socialized medicine does not increase "frivolous" visits.

[OwnedByCats]

39. You better believe an infected abscessed tooth is a good

reason to go to the ER, most especially if it's over the weekend and your dentist is closed. For whatever reason going to your dentist is not possible, you need to go for two reasons - the excruciating pain (feels like someone is jabbing an ice pick into your jaw) and the possibility that infection could actually kill you if untreated and it is no longer localized. If it spreads, you could be in trouble, especially to the heart. If they think you'll be ok until you see your dentist, they SHOULD give you something for the pain to get you through.

I had an infected abcessed tooth on a Sat night and couldn't see a dentist until that Mon afternoon. Now I will tell you that I don't go to the ER unless something really horrible is going on. The pain was so bad, especially worse when laying down (pooling of the blood around the abcess in a horizontal position causes the abcess to be pressurized by that blood, causing more pain), that I relented and went. The nurse told me he had one that almost killed him, if he had waited much longer it would have. The ER doc first tried to give me Motrin. I said she must be kidding - if that worked I wouldn't have been there! Why spend $400 on an emergency room visit when a $6 bottle of Motrin was sufficient? I told her I had already taken a handful that day. Well that was what prompted her to give me the good stuff, along with a lecture about how ibuprofen in large quantities could cause severe stomach bleeding due to an ulcer and I could die. That's my word of advice if you ever get refused strong meds if you really need them for things like an abcess or kidney stone. Tell them you've already had a bunch load of ibuprofen and/or Tylenol. Just be prepared to get a talking to about how you're damaging your stomach and liver. That worked for me anyway, even though it was unintentional.