Meeting the annual opiate mandate – safe prescribing and state of the crisis in 2026

Presented by Dr. David MH Lambert, DDS, a board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon and clinical pharmacist, and Sean Kurdys, 22-year lead investigator for the North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners, this session looks at the opioid crisis in the rear-view mirror. Clinicians have largely succeeded in cutting how much and how often opioids are prescribed, and today’s crisis is driven mostly by illicit fentanyl. It takes the same look back at the MATE Act and questions how it was applied to dentistry against its original intent: Medication Access and Training Expansion. It then reviews CSRS, a new rule giving hygienists CSRS access, and opioid prescribing within North Carolina’s 5-day acute and 7-day post-surgical limits.

Clinically, it makes the case for multimodal non-opioid analgesia. Scheduled ibuprofen and acetaminophen, including Advil Dual Action, outperform an opioid with acetaminophen, and dosing patients will actually follow matters as much as the drug. It also covers what the new non-opioid suzetrigine (Journavx) can and can’t do, and why tramadol and codeine are poor picks.

Check out the course flier for more information on this course