News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
A local dentist is applauding a new policy announced by the American Dental Association last week.
The ADA policy encouraged dentists nationwide to drastically cut back on prescribing opioid painkillers.
Dr. Ben Oakley with Cookeville’s Hintz and Oakley Family Dentistry said his office has already started doing that by limiting the duration of opioid prescriptions to patients. The ADA policy recommended a reduction of no more than seven days for treatment of acute pain, drug education for dentists, and using prescription monitoring systems.
“It’s kind of standardized the the guidelines that we have and that every dentist should be following,” Oakley said. “In our practice, personally, we never prescribe more than a couple of days, if we do prescribe them.
A study by the ADA found that the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen are equal or superior to using opioids for dental pain and reducing inflammation. Oakley said that’s true in some cases, but opioids can be useful for certain procedures like root canals, dental abscesses, and tooth extractions.
“A lot of times that’s bone pain a that’s lot more serious when it comes to that and not so much on the inflammation route,” Oakley said. “When it’s not for something procedural we will prescribe them to someone that’s having very intense pain and to get them through the pain until antibiotics can kick in and do their part. That’s why we normally stick to a day or two of use for them.”
Oakley said opioid prescriptions by dentists have declined since 1998, when the field of practice had the highest prescribing rate of opioids at about 15.5-percent. That rate has since dropped to around 6-percent.
“That’s mainly due to doctor education being key in the dental schools nowadays and just trying to show what other options doctors have and what is smart for different age rage of patients and severity of pain,” Oakley said.
Oakley said the recommendations from the ADA are a good thing, especially the drug education and use of prescription minoring systems.
“Those actually help keep track with pharmacies on what patients are actually being prescribed so you can check and make sure they aren’t being over prescribed,” Oakley said. “Unfortunately it is a problem that we do have nationwide and it does affect us locally.”
