May 24, 2019 — The percentages of oral health and dentist visits are about the same in the U.S. and England, but what about the rates of opioid prescriptions? Researchers conducted an international study to find out.
Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study of opioid prescriptions by dentists in the U.S. and England over a year. They reported that the proportion of prescriptions written by U.S. dentists was 37 times greater than those written by English dentists. The study was published in JAMA Network Open on May 24.
“The substantial differences observed strongly suggest that opioid prescribing by U.S. dentists is excessive and could be contributing to the opioid epidemic,” wrote the authors, led by Katie Suda, PharmD. Suda is an associate professor of pharmacy systems, outcomes, and policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy.
Source: Study finds U.S. dentists’ opioid prescriptions ‘excessive’ /Dr. Bicupid