According to a study in the Journal of the American Dental Association, more than 4 million people went to hospital emergency rooms for help with dental problems from 2008 to 2010, at a cost to taxpayers of $2.7 billion, though the vast majority could get only pain relief there, rather than the dental treatment they needed. This is not only a poor way to provide care, it’s also outrageously expensive: A 2012 Pew report found that when Medicaid recipients go to the ER with a dental problem, the treatment costs the state nearly 10 times more than if preventive care had been delivered in a dentist’s office.