Timely Access to Care

One of your rights is to timely dental care. This means that you have the right to certain appointment wait times. An appointment wait time is the time from the initial request to the earliest date offered.

For California Medi-Cal dental plans (Sacramento and Los Angeles):

Initial/Routine Appointment – within 4 weeks
Preventive Dental Care Appointment – within 4 weeks
Specialist Appointment (child) – within 30 calendar days from approved request
Specialist Appointment (adult) – within 30 business days from approved request
Emergency/Urgent Appointment – within 24 hours from request

For all Commercial and Covered California dental plans:

Non-Urgent Appointment (Initial/Routine) – within 36 business days
Preventive Dental Care Appointment – within 40 business days
Specialist Appointment – within 36 business days from approved request
Urgent Appointment – within 72 hours from request

If you are asking for a specific date and time these standards may not apply.

If your dentist cannot offer you a date within the above requirements, call us immediately. We will help you set your appointment or file a complaint against your provider.

Language and interpreter services are available for you at no cost. You can ask us to send an interpreter to your appointment. You must ask at least 2 weeks prior to your appointment.

If it is after hours your dentist will have emergency/urgent processes on their voicemail. If they do not answer please call us. We have an on-call dentist who will assist you. You may also call 911 or go to the nearest hospital. Emergency/urgent services may be received by any dentist.

If you have questions or want to request an interpreter call Member Services.

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