For the final year and a half of my college career, I will be working on my senior thesis presentation. The topic I have chosen to research is dentists involvement in the opiate epidemic that has affected the United States for the past two decades. So here is a preview into a little of what I have so far.

The Role of the Dental Professional in Today's Opiate Epidemic

There is a fine line between use, misuse, abuse, and addiction, making the physical dependency on prescription opiates one extremely slippery slope. What may begin as a simple prescription for pain can quickly and easily send one spiraling down the path of a life threatening addiction, as was the case for Brittany Ringersen, whose opiate dependency began after her dentist prescribed Percocet as a pain reliever following her wisdom teeth surgery. Ringersen insisted that because her dentist not only overprescribed the amount of tablets she actually needed in relation to her pain levels but also failed to provide her with any warning nor information about the potential and very real possibility for addiction, she fell victim to the vicious cycle of dependency at the young age of 16.¹ Unfortunately, Brittany was one of many whose addiction to opiates began as a result of a dentist’s prescription for pain relief following a painful dental procedure. As one of the top prescribers of prescription pills today, it is time that dental professionals assess their role amid the increasing opiate epidemic. It is imperative they take the necessary steps towards identifying and addressing the underlying causes in an effort to begin solving the crisis that has plagued the United States for more than 15 years.

Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, with the number increasing at an alarming rate each year. In 2015 alone, 55,403 lethal drug overdoses occurred in the U.S. with 20,101 of those deaths being affiliated with prescription painkillers.² Statistics spanning the years from 1999 to 2008 were collected and compared concerning the number of sales of prescription opiates and the number of lethal overdose deaths per year. The results found the number of opiates being prescribed to be positively correlated to the number of lethal drug overdoses occurring each year.² Another recent study conducted in 2016 collected data regarding the number of drug overdose deaths involving prescription opioids. The study revealed that since 1999 in the United States, both the number of prescription opioids being sold, as well as the number of deaths occurring from prescription opiates has quadrupled.³ It is clear from the research that has been done concerning lethal drug overdoses, that prescription opioids are the driving force behind the epidemic. Dental professionals, prescribe 12 percent of the immediate release opioids in the United States. Yet, dentists are mentioned markedly less than other medical professionals regarding prescription drug abuse and addiction.⁴ In this day and age in which over 300 million opiate prescriptions are written each year, it is imperative the dental professional community assess their role in the prevention of prescription opiate abuse. Dentists must reevaluate their prescribing policies to minimize the problem of overprescribing, while also utilizing the "soft-skills" in order to establish more trustworthy and honest relationships with their patients. Dental schools must provide more education on addiction and prescription opioids, and it is essential that dentists participate in continuing education about opiate prescribing practices. Once dental professionals begin to identify and understand the importance of their role in the prescription drug crisis, they may begin to contribute to finding a solution to the opiate epidemic as a whole.

References

1. Snow, K., & Deo, P. (2016, June 21). The Deadly Triangle: Dentists, Drugs and Dependence. Retrieved December 27, 2017.

2. American Society of Addiction Medicine. (2016). Opioid Addiction 2016 Facts & Figures . Retrieved January 1, 2017.

3. CDC. Wide-ranging online data for epidemiologic research (WONDER). Atlanta, GA: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics; 2016. Available at http://wonder.cdc.gov.

4. Denisco, Richard C., George A. Kenna, Michael G. O’Neil, Ronald J. Kulich, Paul A. Moore, William T. Kane, Noshir R. Mehta, Elliot V. Hersh, and Nathaniel P. Katz. "Prevention of prescription opioid abuse." The Journal of the American Dental Association 142.7 (2011): 800-10. Web.