On the front of its Science Times section, the New York Times (5/1, D1, Louis, Subscription Publication) reports, “The frequent prescription of narcotics in emergency departments for dental pain has been quantified for the first time by research financed by the National Institutes of Health, bringing to light another way opioids get into circulation and contribute to the rampant abuse of painkillers in the United States.” The research indicates that “from 1997 to 2007, painkillers were prescribed in three of four visits to the emergency department for dental complaints; roughly half of visits resulted in a prescription for antibiotics.” During “that period, the number of painkiller prescriptions for dental patients in emergency departments rose 26 percent, and antibiotic prescriptions jumped 41 percent, according to the report, published online in January in the journal Medical Care.”
Related Links:
— “E.R. Doctors Face Quandary on Painkillers,”Catherine Saint Louis , The New York Times, April 30, 2012.