Is Weekend Presentation Associated With Odontogenic Infection Severity?

Area of Science:

• Dental Medicine
• Emergency Medicine
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Many dental infections are treated in emergency departments (EDs) outside of regular dental office hours.
• This practice may lead to unnecessary ED utilization and costs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if odontogenic infections presenting to EDs are less severe during weekends compared to weekdays.
• To analyze the association between weekend presentation and ED admission rates for dental infections.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort study using the 2014 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample.
• Included patients with primary diagnosis of oral soft tissue infection.
• Analyzed day of presentation as the predictor and inpatient admission from ED as the outcome using multivariate regression.

Main Results:

• A total of 6,560 patient records were analyzed.
• Weekend presentations (34.8%) were associated with higher likelihood of private insurance and higher income residence.
• Weekend dental infections had a significantly lower odds of ED admission (OR=0.69, P < .01).

Conclusions:

• Odontogenic infections presenting on weekends are generally less severe than those on weekdays.
• Off-hour dental emergencies represent a potential source of ED waste.
• Findings suggest a need to scrutinize off-hour dental emergencies in healthcare reform efforts to reduce unnecessary ED encounters.