As of 2025, Hawaii's required PIP no-fault medical coverage remains $10,000 per person, and that is the worst-case limit that applies first after a Pearl City crash: your own auto insurer pays up to $10,000 for reasonable accident-related treatment, then stops, even if the dental work costs far more.

That does not mean you are stuck choosing between the VA and a civilian injury claim.

If the crash happened near road work on Kamehameha Highway or by the H-1 lane shifts around Pearl City, you can usually use VA care for treatment and still pursue the at-fault driver's insurer. Using VA benefits does not waive your Hawaii injury claim.

And a knocked-out tooth often pushes the case out of Hawaii's no-fault limits anyway. Under HRS § 431:10C-306, you may pursue pain-and-suffering damages if you have:

• medical or rehabilitative expenses over $5,000
• permanent and serious disfigurement
• significant permanent loss of use of a body part
• death

A lost adult tooth commonly raises both the $5,000 threshold issue and the disfigurement issue, especially if you need an implant, bone graft, or crown.

You also have a right most people miss: the insurer cannot require an unlimited medical release just because you opened a claim. Give records tied to the crash, not your entire VA history from Pearl Harbor, Tripler, or years of unrelated treatment.

If the other driver was in a government vehicle, claims deadlines change fast. A claim against a Hawaii state or county agency goes through the State of Hawaii Risk Management Office or the relevant county agency; a federal vehicle claim goes through the responsible federal agency under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

For a standard private-driver crash, Hawaii's general lawsuit deadline is usually 2 years under HRS § 657-7.