Aug. 17 (UPI) — A dental clinic that stopped prescribing all opioids reported in a medical journal on Wednesday that its patients managed pain well, and that the decision most likely helped many patients steer clear of opioid abuse.
The research letter compared prescribing patterns for opioid and non-opioid analgesics, along with patients’ dental pain outcomes, before and after the clinic started an opioid reduction initiative in 2013 and was published in JAMA Network Open.
“Considering that approximately 1,800 patients received more than 20,000 opioid pills annually in our clinic before implementation of the opioid reduction strategy, eliminating opioid prescriptions may mean that approximately 105 individuals annually will not develop new and persistent opioid use associated with treatment at our clinic,” the researchers said in their paper.
The study’s co-authors work at the Eastman Institute for Oral Health at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y.
To ease discomfort after dental procedures, such as tooth extraction, gum and other types of dental surgery, or the placement of dental implants, dentists may prescribe opioids along with other types of pain relievers, according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, a part of the National Institutes of Health.
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Opioids Not Needed for Dental Pain, Clinic’s Research Shows