Opioid prescriptions update

Opioid pain relievers are commonly prescribed following surgery or injury, or for health conditions such as cancer. They may also be prescribed for moderate to severe acute dental pain.¹ While opioids can be effective for managing chronic pain and other conditions when properly administered, they carry significant risk when misused or abused.

Regular monitoring and identification of early risk factors is critical to recognizing patients who are most at-risk for prescription drug abuse issues and those who need treatment. Commitment across the healthcare industry is needed to effectively fight prescription opioid abuse.

What dentists can do

As dentists, you have a significant role in ensuring appropriate prescription opioid use. To understand your role, you should be familiar with these two statements from the American Dental Association addressing opioid prescribing:

Statement on the Use of Opioids in the Treatment of Dental Pain², and Statement on Provision of Dental Treatment for Patients with Substance Use Disorders³. These statements outline opioid management considerations including the importance of:

• Registering with and utilizing prescription drug monitoring program.
• Discussions with patients regarding their responsibilities for preventing misuse, abuse, storage and disposal of prescription opioids.
• Using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics as the first-line therapy for acute pain management.
• Coordination with other treating doctors, including pain specialists when prescribing opioids for management of chronic orofacial pain.

• Consulting with the patient's physician when the patient has a history of alcoholism or other substance use disorder.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) are among the most promising interventions to improve opioid prescribing, inform clinical practice, and protect patients at risk^.4

• Enroll in your local PDMP.
• A PDMP allows providers to identify situations in which they should not be prescribing a controlled substance to a patient. This enables dentists to move towards better medication adherence and helps to curb the prescription drug abuse epidemic.