While National Dental Health Month (February) just ended, Emergency Dental Care, USA is doing its part to keep dental health going year-round in the Pacific Northwest.

The business opened its newest location recently in Everett, Washington. Home to more than 100,000 residents in need of quality, after-hours dental care, Everett sits just 25 miles north of Seattle and got its start as a mill town many years ago.

The Everett office is Emergency Dental Care’s 11th office and offers dental services like cavity fillings, root canals, extractions and surgery to people in pain who need relief from tooth and mouth pain after normal business hours.

“We’ll work with patients in the Seattle area as far north as Bellingham and south as Puyallup to relieve their pain quickly and conveniently,” said owner Michael Obeng, D.D.S. “Afterwards, we’ll refer them to a dentist in the area who can service their ongoing, routine dental needs.”

Emergency Dental Care’s vision is right in line with National Dental Health Month. The organization wants to give people relief from dental pain and get them in the habit of brushing, flossing and seeing a dentist regularly so that they don’t end up in an emergency dental situation again.

Goodwill toward others seems too infrequent these days. Most of the news stories are about people being mistreated by others. Such is the case with Allcare - a dental and denture business that suddenly and without warning shut its business down on New Year’s Eve. Patients in the middle of treatment were left without a place to go to get their dental work completed, even some who had already paid for that work in full.

When Emergency Dental founder Dr. Michael Obeng found out what was going on, he did something both remarkable and responsible - he agreed to receive the dental records for patients at Allcare’s Des Moines, IA office and complete the treatments for patients who’d already paid for them in full at no additional cost. I had a chance to catch up with Dr. Obeng about his decision to help out stranded Allcare patients.

“Several patients were in the middle of treatment and paid full for services yet to be rendered,” said Obeng. “They were left high and dry. I hope people will see that Emergency Dental is just trying to do what’s right for these patients.”

Emergency Dental Care USA is offering three options to former Allcare patients in Des Moines:

• Continue receiving dental and denture care already paid for at no additional cost.
• Have unfinished work completed with payment and financing through Emergency Dental
• Collect personal dental records from Emergency Dental and receive treatment elsewhere

If you’re a former Allcare patient and want more information click on the link below.

If the thought of all that candy sitting around is more frightening than Halloween goblins, here’s a great trick: take your treats to Omaha Emergency Dental the day after Halloween.

Michael Obeng, DDS, is buying back prepackaged, unopened candy for $1 per pound, up to 5 pounds per person. Kids will also receive a toothbrush in exchange for their candy.

The event will take place from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Nov. 1 at Emergency Dental Care USA, 2605 84th Street (84th and Center).

The candy will be shipped to Operation Gratitude to fill up care packages for service members stationed overseas. These care packages are assembled at the Army National Guard Armory in Van Nuys, California, for safety and security.

“Kids and their teeth can be overwhelmed by sweets at Halloween,” Dr. Obeng said. “With the candy buyback, we want to give them an opportunity to turn those sweets into treats that are better for their dental health.

“At the same time, we want to send this candy to our troops overseas to give these soldiers a rare treat,” he added. “Many of these soldiers are serving in remote locations where good food is scarce and sweets are even harder to find. This is a small way of saying ‘Thank you’ to these brave men and women who serve our country so faithfully.”

Emergency Dental Care USA just brought professional urgent dental care to Albuquerque, New Mexico and Beaverton, Oregon.     Albuquerque is a brand new city and state for Emergency Dental Care USA, while Beaverton is a second Emergency Dental location to open in the Portland metro area.

Albuquerque Emergency Dental is located on the east side of the city within just a couple of miles of the Cibola National Forest.   The clinic is at the corner of Comanche NE and Juan Tabo Blvd NE, just behind Garcia’s Kitchen restaurant.    The exact address of Albuquerque Emergency Dental is 10820 Comanche NE  Suite C, Albuquerque, NM.     Appointments are not necessary but you can contact the practice at (505) 296-9911 or go to the web site www.albuquerqueemergencydental.com.

Convenient for people in southwest side of Portland, Oregon–including Beaverton, Tigard and Lake Oswego–is the new Beaverton Emergency Dental clinic.   The office is at 11565 SW Hall Blvd, Tigard, Oregon with easy access off SW Beaverton Tigard Freeway (217) at SW Pacific Highway. You can call Beaverton Emergency Dental at (503) 639-9911 or visit www.beavertonemergencydental.com.

Both Beaverton Emergency Dental and Albuquerque Emergency Dental have the full range of urgent dental care services as well as a variety of payment options.