MEDICAL

United Western Medical Center/Santa Ana wants more people to know about its after-hours emergency dental service, described as the only hospital-based program approved by the Orange County Dental Society. Dentists are available on call from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weekdays and round the clock on weekends at the hospital emergency room.

About 40 to 70 patients a month are currently using the service, according to Carolyn Connolly, director of the hospital’s outpatient services. She said that for a charge of $70 to $100, general dentists and oral surgeons referred by the dental society are available to handle any kind of dental emergency, from wiring or replanting a dislodged tooth to treating a painful abscess.

Information about the service has been distributed to hotels and emergency rooms at other hospitals.