Health Study Reveals Non-Opioid Pain Relief Beats Opioids After Dental Surgery
Health Study Reveals Non-Opioid Pain Relief Beats Opioids After Dental Surgery
Patients Report Better Pain Relief Provided By Non-Opioids
In this study, 1800 patients were given either ibuprofen and acetaminophen or the opioid hydrocodone with acetaminophen. The results had more patients reporting less pain, better sleep and higher satisfaction with the non-opioid pain relief mix.
“We think this is a landmark study,” said Cecile Feldman, dean of Rutgers School of Dental Medicine and lead author of the study. “The results actually came in even stronger than we thought they would.”
– Cecile A. Feldman, Janine Fredericks-Younger, Paul J. Desjardins, Hans Malmstrom, Michael Miloro, Gary Warburton, Brent B. Ward, Vincent B. Ziccardi, Patricia Greenberg, Tracy Andrews, Pamela B. Matheson, Rafael Benoliel, Daniel H. Fine, Shou-En Lu. Nonopioid vs opioid analgesics after impacted third-molar extractions. The Journal of the American Dental Association, 2025
The researchers found that this non-opioid pain relief was more effective for the tested patients, following wisdom tooth extraction surgery, than an opioid pain reliever. Considering the inherent dangers around addiction this is very good news for the dental sector.
Dentists Have A Responsibility Re-Pain Relief Prescription Behaviour
Dentists in America are up there with the leading prescribers of opioids – they wrote more than 8.9 million opioid prescriptions in 2022. This is, often, the first port of call for younger Americans in their experience of opioids in the US. Thus, the dangers are high and anything which can change the behaviours of USA dentists in this regard will be very worthwhile. Health study reveals non-opioid pain relief beats opioids after dental surgery.
“There are studies out there to show that when young people get introduced to opioids, there’s an increased likelihood that they’re going to eventually use them again, and then it can lead to addiction,” said study co-investigator Janine Fredericks-Younger, adding that opioid overdoses kill more than 80,000 Americans each year.”
– Science Daily
The Nature Of Pain Relief
Pain relief is a highly suggestible thing, as has been seen in many placebo studies.
“Placebo effects are beneficial health outcomes not related to the relatively direct biological effects of an intervention and can be elicited by an agent that, by itself, is inert. Understanding these placebo effects will help to improve clinical trial design, especially for interventions such as surgery, CNS-active drugs and behavioural interventions which are often non-blinded. Recent research in placebo analgesia and other conditions has demonstrated that several neurotransmitter systems, such as opiate and dopamine, are involved with the placebo effect. Brain regions including anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia have been activated following administration of placebo. A patient’s expectancy of improvement may influence outcomes as much as some active interventions and this effect may be greater for novel interventions and for procedures. Maximizing this expectancy effect is important for clinicians to optimize the health of their patient. There have been many relatively acute placebo studies that are now being extended into clinically relevant models of placebo effect.”
– Barry S. Oken, Placebo effects: clinical aspects and neurobiology, Brain, Volume 131, Issue 11, November 2008, Pages 2812–2823, https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awn116
Balancing the anxieties of patients, their pain expectations, and the risks of opioid abuse are all part of the mix for dentists in the modern clinical setting. The reported performance of these over the counter non-opioid pain relievers, following wisdom tooth extraction surgery, signals a clearer pathway ahead for dentists to follow in this regard.
It should be remembered that pain in itself is not always a bad thing. It is, after all the body’s own warning system for the sufferer to adjust their behaviour. In the instance of post-surgery pain it can come as a shock after the anaesthetic wears off and the pain indicates the seriousness of the surgery undergone. There is, unfortunately, in our modern culture this attitude, encouraged by Big Pharma that pain is an unnecessary thing in life. This is a false dichotomy in my view, that pain is bad and non-pain is always good. This reliance on outer inputs disempowers the patient from comprehending the full learning experience of what has occurred. Whilst not wallowing in bucket loads of pain, some pain keeps us in touch with what is really going on in the physiology of our lives.
Non-Opioid Pain Relief Provided Better Results
A recent health study reveals non-opioid pain relief beats opioids after dental surgery.
“Results in The Journal of American Dental Association showed the non-opioid combination provided superior pain relief during the peak-pain period in the two days after surgery. Patients taking the non-opioid medications also reported better sleep quality on the first night and less interference with daily activities throughout recovery.”
– Science Daily
The pain relief business is big business in America and elsewhere around the globe. Tens of billions of dollars are spent on pain relief each year by Americans. You just have to watch the ads on TV to see how heavily this is pushed onto everyday people. Any discomfort is haled as an opportunity to pop a pill. Free market capitalism, which is in no way free, preys on health ruthlessly.
Profitability outguns any real concern for patient healthcare as the driving force behind these corporations in the healthcare space. Did you know that 78% of all US doctors now work for a corporation? The corporatisation of healthcare has taken over the entire sector. Private equity firms have bought out non-profit hospitals in highly leveraged deals to the detriment of patient care in the name of investor windfalls.
The global pain management drugs market was evaluated at US$ 81.15 billion in 2023 and is expected to attain around US$ 120.16 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 4% from 2024 to 2033. Pain management drugs utilize various mechanisms to alleviate symptoms. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin reduce inflammation and fever by inhibiting prostaglandins, which cause inflammation and sensitise nerve endings, contributing to pain. These medications may irritate the stomach lining due to their impact on prostaglandins, potentially leading to irritation and bleeding in some individuals.
So this recent health study reveals non-opioid pain relief beats opioids after dental surgery, which is good news for dentists and patients. Reducing the risks of opioid addiction through prescriptive behaviours by dentists unwittingly providing bonding first tastes of these drugs is an important thing. Especially, when the non-opioid alternatives are just as effective or more so.
Note: All content and media on the Sunbury Dental House website and social media channels are created and published online for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.
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