More than 50 percent of opioids prescribed to patients after surgical tooth extraction, like wisdom teeth removal, go unused by patients, according to a new study published in the journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
For the study, researchers examined prescription opioid use for 79 tooth extraction patients. The vast majority (94 percent) received opioid pain medication after surgery. Participants were surveyed on pain and medication use via text message every day for the first week after surgery and again on days 14 and 21 following surgery.
By day five, 80 percent of participants reported having low pain scores (0 to 5 on a 10-point scale). The average amount of opioids prescribed to patients without surgical complications was 28. Three weeks after the surgery, these patients had used an average of 13 pills.
"When translated to the broad U.S. population, our findings suggest that more than 100 million opioid pills prescribed to patients following surgical removal of impacted wisdom teeth are not used, leaving the door open for possible abuse or misuse by patients, or their friends or family," said lead author Brandon C. Maughan, MD, an emergency physician and health services researcher.
Dr. Maughan conducted the study while serving as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
"Given the increasing concern about prescription opioid abuse in the United States, all prescribers — including physicians, oral surgeons and dental clinicians — have a responsibility to limit opioid exposure, to explain the risks of opioid misuse and educate patients on proper drug disposal," he said.
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