Evidence-Based Analgesic Therapy

CE Hours: 1.75

Description: This presentation will first identify the potential problem in prescribing opioids for dental postsurgical pain and other painful dental conditions. The biochemical and physiological mechanisms behind post-surgical dental pain will be reviewed and a discussion of various double-blind randomized controlled trials on the efficacy of various analgesic agents following the surgical removal of impacted third molar teeth will take place. A discussion of the “drug seeking patient” and the prescription opioid abuse problem will be highlighted. The final portion of this discussion will focus on meta-analysis data for various analgesics in both dental pain and other post-surgical pain models. In other words, “Which analgesics consistently lead the pack and which are consistently dogs.” An updated flexible analgesic schedule which was published in JADA will finalize the program.

Learning Objectives: 

• Explain the potential consequences of even short-term exposure to opioids.
• Compare the analgesic efficacy of NSAIDs to single entity oral opioids and acetaminophen/opioid combination drugs in randomized placebo controlled double-blind oral surgery pain studies.
• Summarize meta-analysis data of NSAIDs and opioid combination drugs on the numbers needed treat (NNT) to obtain one additional patient with at least 50% maximum pain relief.