The story of Urgent Tooth begins the day I realized that dentistry has a way of dividing people into two groups—people who see their dentist like clockwork and people who see their dentist when it hurts. It was only when I was out on my own and had to pay for my own dental work that I got a taste of how inaccessible dentistry can be for the everyday person and found that I had moved from the clockwork camp to holding off until it hurts.
I think everyone could benefit from experiencing one proper toothache in their life. They are the worst. I started Urgent Tooth in my mind that day. There is a large segment of the population that honestly doesn’t identify with regular dental care—which is fine because it’s real. But what isn’t fine is how hard it can be to get treatment in the moment. Dentistry loves long-term patients. Dentistry is built around the idea of regular dental care. That’s hard to wrestle with as an outsider with a toothache. I see myself as their dentist.
Urgent Tooth was also founded as an answer to the trend of dentists passing patients along to oral surgeons for extractions, which is great for the patient with time and money but not so much for the everyday person under real-life constraints. This practice is made for them. It’s made for the no-insurance crowd but still wants the implant. Or for the wisdom teeth case without the referral.
As this practice grows, I am pleased to see smiling, appreciative patients take the place of what was initially just an unproven concept.
