Dental Painkiller Prescriptions are Leading to Teenage Addiction: A Look at Alternatives to Treat Pain

Pills laying on red background
Recent studies conducted by the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) and the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) have shown that there is an increased risk for opioid addiction in teenagers and young adults after being prescribed painkillers for dealing with the pain associated with the extraction of the third molars (wisdom teeth). Dentists typically will prescribe Vicodin, the most commonly prescribed opioid pain reliever by US oral surgeons.1 It is no coincidence that the pain killer is also the most frequently abused prescription drug. The study done by JADA also included that over the counter painkillers, such as ibuprofen, were as affective as the opioid based pain killers like hydrocodone and Vicodin...
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