Dental Emergencies in LA County: ER Visits and Dentist Supply

In 2023, Los Angeles County had 52.0 emergency department visits per 100,000 residents with cavities as a diagnosis, 80.8 for tooth nerve and root diseases (HCAI's category "Diseases of pulp and periapical tissues"), 99.9 for tooth loss and related disorders, and 273.7 for other dental conditions, a group that includes cracked and impacted teeth, gum disease and jaw conditions. HCAI counts a visit in every group whose condition was diagnosed at that visit, so the four rates overlap.

For the first three groups, Los Angeles County's rates were among the lowest in the state: 8th, 5th and 4th lowest of 58 counties, and below the population-weighted California rates of 75.1, 123.6 and 136.6. For other dental conditions the county ranked 21st lowest, close to California's population-weighted 281.5. Of the six Southern California counties in the table, Orange County had the lowest rate in every group.

The highest rates are in small rural counties. For tooth nerve and root diseases, Modoc County had 1,516.2 visits per 100,000; for tooth loss, Trinity County had 757.4. HCAI reports that counties in the state's northern region had higher rates than the statewide figure across all conditions.

HCAI's published statewide rate for tooth nerve and root diseases, 288.1 per 100,000, is the plain average of the 58 county rates. In that average a county of a few thousand people counts as much as Los Angeles County, home to 24.8% of Californians. Weighting each county's rate by its population on July 1, 2023 gives 123.6 per 100,000 for the state as a whole. Los Angeles County is below both, but the population-weighted figure is the fairer comparison, so it is the one we call "California" on this page.

Medi-Cal was the expected payer for 53.9% to 64.3% of Los Angeles County's dental emergency department visits in 2023, depending on the condition. Private insurance was expected to pay for 14.8% to 22.2%, Medicare for 10.3% to 16.6%, and 5.4% to 7.5% were self-pay or uninsured. HCAI found Medi-Cal was the largest expected payer for every condition in all 10 of its regions.

By HCAI's count, Los Angeles County had 67.9 dentists per 100,000 residents whose specialty treats tooth nerve and root diseases (general dentists, endodontists, pediatric dentists and a few others). That is 11th highest of 58 counties, above the 50.0 average of the county rates and close to the population-weighted California rate of 65.9. Across the four condition groups, which each count a slightly different set of specialties, the county's rate runs from 67.6 to 79.3 dentists per 100,000.

The rest of the licensed dental team is thinner. For the same conditions, Los Angeles County had 65.8 registered dental assistants, registered dental hygienists and orthodontic assistants per 100,000 residents, 55th of 58 counties, against 99.3 for California population-weighted. Across the four groups the county's rate runs from 65.6 to 75.3.

• HCAI publishes these figures by county, not by city, so emergency visits by Glendale residents are part of the Los Angeles County numbers.
• HCAI points out that emergency departments can treat the symptoms of these conditions but "are not equipped to provide ongoing dental care." For a toothache, a broken tooth or swelling, our emergency dentist page explains how to reach us, and our guide to choosing between an emergency dentist and the ER covers when the ER is the right call.
• Most of the county's dental ER visits were expected to be paid by Medi-Cal. Infinite Dental Wellness accepts PPO dental plans and does not accept Medi-Cal or Denti-Cal; see dental insurance and payment for details.

All rates come from the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) dataset "Oral Health Professional Supply and Non-Traumatic Dental Emergency Department Visits" (updated March 16, 2026). Emergency department visits combine treat-and-release visits from HCAI's 2023 Emergency Department Data with visits that led to a hospital admission from its 2023 Patient Discharge Data. A visit is counted when a non-traumatic dental condition (not caused by an injury) is a primary or secondary diagnosis, using codes from the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors. Dentist and dental team rates are a snapshot of active licensees as of July 3, 2024, from Department of Consumer Affairs license records and HCAI's license renewal survey, weighted to the full licensee population. For each condition group HCAI counts only the specialties that treat it.

HCAI's "statewide" columns equal the plain average of the 58 county rates; our script checks this for every measure. The population-weighted California rate is our calculation: each county's rate times its U.S. Census Bureau population on July 1, 2023, summed, divided by California's population (38,965,193). Expected payer shares are published for HCAI's 10 workforce regions; Los Angeles County is its own region.

Limits: HCAI does not publish the visit counts or the population it divided by, so the population-weighted figure is an estimate. It does not say whether licensees are placed by practice or home address. The data shows where emergency visits happen relative to population; it does not show why. Rates are for one year (2023) and can move from year to year, most of all in small counties.