By Dr. Alan Francis, DDS (Retired)
Every guide in this series is oriented toward preventing problems. This one is oriented toward managing them when prevention has not been enough. Complications after dental treatment occur in a defined percentage of cases regardless of clinical quality—dry socket, post-surgical infection, allergic reactions, unexpected swelling, and bleeding that does not resolve with standard first aid are not exclusively the product of poor clinical care. They are biological events that clinical quality reduces but does not eliminate. The question for a dental tourist is not only how to minimize the probability of a complication—which the vetting, questions, and records guides address—but what to do if one occurs while you are still abroad, in a country whose language you may not speak, whose healthcare geography you do not know, and whose emergency services are accessed through a number you have not memorized. Emergency planning closes that gap. It requires about thirty minutes of preparation before you travel and produces a document you may never need—and that you will be very glad to have if you do. This guide covers both the planning and the clinical management: what to set up before you leave, how to assess severity, who to call, and what to do for each category of post-dental complication.
