We need to rethink the way acute pain is managed. We tend to think of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory or acetaminophen whether used alone or in combination (non-opiate multimodal anaglesic therapy) as “alternatives” to opiates…when in fact we should actually consider the converse…that opiates are the alternative to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents – alone or in combination. We […]
A Shift In Thinking Read More »
Opiate analgesic use for post-surgical pain is undergoing a lot of scrutiny not only in #dentistry but also in #otolaryngology as evidenced in a recent commentary I helped author regarding the merits of non-opiate multimodal analgesic therapy.
Otolaryngology And Non-Opiate Multimodal Analgesic Therapy Read More »
More evidence that NSAIDs with or without acetaminophen are more effective in alleviating pain in the postoperative dental surgery pain model. A recent study from JBR Clinical research demonstrated some unanticipated findings: “This study is important because the relative efficacy of these two commonly used pain medications has not been directly compared in a validated
Study: Naproxen More Effective Than Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen After Dental Surgery Read More »
This past February The Stanford- Lancet Commission on the North American Opioid Crisis released their Executive Summary on the state of the opiate crisis. This position paper reviews the past, the present, the future, and proposes remedies. From 1999 to 2022 The Commission estimates 600,000 deaths in the US and Canada but projects that in
Opiate Crisis To Triple In Next 7 Years Read More »
It is up to us (OMS) to be good stewards of responsible opiate prescribing to one of our more common and most susceptible patient demographics.
The More Things Change… Read More »
A pre-print citation in medRxiv is demonstrating a near 100% increase in opiate related deaths in the high school age demographic (ages 14-18) from 2019 to 2020 alone. Illicitly manufactured fentanyl once again appears to be the usual suspect. This study calculated drug overdose deaths by 5 year age groups over the 11 year period from 2010
Opiate Epidemic Disproportionately Worsening in High School Age Demographic Read More »
Recent CDC reports over 100,000 opiate related deaths (all sources) from April 2020 to April 2021, up 29% from the same prior period; North Carolina saw a 36.9% with Florida falling below the national average with a 26.2% increase in opiate related deaths. Most opiate related deaths are attributed to illicit opiate abuse and have been on
US Opioid Fatalities Reach Grim Milestone… Read More »
The home/welcome page of the NC Board of Dental Examiners has an interesting post copied from the NC Medical Board’s website. Not too unexpectedly, CSRS is flagging registrants who have been prescribing controlled substances but not reviewing a patient’s CSRS profile. In this post it states: Administrators of the state-run North Carolina Controlled Substances Reporting
NC Practitioner Compliance With CSRS Read More »
Consistent with other reports we have made the American Medical Association has released a report showing a 44% decrease in opiate prescribing over the past 10 years with a 6.9% decrease from 2019-2020 alone. However, at the same time, “deaths of despair” continue to rise as a worsening drug overdose and death epidemic from illicit opiates laced with fentanyl continues to
AMA Reports Decreased Opiate Prescribing…Increased Deaths Read More »
The CDC reports that drug overdose death rates (from all causes) are up 29.4% over the last 12 months most likely reflecting so-called “deaths of despair” as the SARS-COV2 pandemic continues unabated. This probably represents death from illicit drug abuse often times laced with fentanyl – a cheap but super-potent synthetic opioid frequently mixed with heroin
Update: National Drug Overdosage Deaths Up 29.4% Read More »
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