CDA Essentials 2018 • Volume 5 • Issue 6

N ews and E vents In Canada, opioid consumption per capita is the second highest in the world, after the United States. Now two recent studies challenge the belief that problematic prescribing by dentists is contributing to the opioid crisis by examining the opioid prescribing habits of Canadian dentists. OPIOID PRESCRIBING BYDENTISTS INCANADA Encouraging results from two studies Data from prescription monitoring programs in Ontario and Nova Scotia reveal prescribing patterns that suggest dentists are responsible for a small proportion of opioids prescriptions dispensed by pharmacies. Ontario The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO) analysed prescription dispense data available from the Narcotics Monitoring System (part of the Health Analytics Branch of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care). Data were analysed for the calendar years 2014–16 to determine the level of opioid prescribing by dentists. The key findings from the RCDSO report 1 include: • Dentists made up 16.7% of all opioid prescribers in the fiscal year 2014–15. • Of all opioid prescriptions dispensed in Ontario pharmacies in 2014, dentists were responsible for 3.3%, compared to physicians, who wrote 96.7%. • In 2016, the most commonly prescribed opioid by dentists was Tylenol 2/3 (75%), followed by Percocet (18%), Tramadol (3%), Oxycodone (0.8%) and Meperidine (0.3%). • Of patients who were prescribed opioids, dentists dispensed 1.3 opioid prescriptions per patient in 2014, compared to a rate of 5.0 opioid prescriptions per patient by physicians. 16 | 2018 | Issue 6