As has been covered on this site before, opioid abuse which can stem from wisdom teeth surgery at a young age is a major challenge in countries like the U.S. There are many stories of families where a young person in their teenage or twenty years has their wisdom teeth taken out and then are exposed to opioids to control pain. This exposure can lead to them become potentially addicted to opioids and then later die as a result of this addiction. Thus, finding alternatives to opioids for surgery like wisdom teeth removal is important to help curb a disturbing trend. See posts like Dentists Overprescribing Opioids to Adults in the U.S., New Research Being Conducted at Rutgers for Opioid Alternatives Could Lead to Less Potential Drug Abuse for those Having Wisdom Teeth Surgery, and Studies and Opinions on Opioids After Wisdom Teeth Removal which have discussed these topics in the past on opioids after wisdom teeth removal.
Years ago, there was not nearly the attention being paid to opioid addiction so one might think that more awareness amongst dentists, oral surgeons, and their patients might help to curb it. However, a new comission from the Stanford–Lancet Commission titled Responding to the opioid crisis in North America and beyond: recommendations of the Stanford–Lancet Commission (Keith Humprehys, vol. 399, no. 10324, pp. 555-604, Feb. 05, 2022) has predicted that 1.2 million people in North America are estimated to die due to opioid overdose by the year 2029. They say that the number of opioid overdoses will grow exponentially. Since 1999 in North America more than 600,000 people have died from an opioid overdose. Preliminary data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed during the 12-month period ending in April 2021, more than 75,000 people died in the US of drug overdoses involving opioids.
The study traced the origins of the problems of the opioid crisis to the 1990s, when the pharmaceutical industry helped motivate doctors to presribe opioids to their patients and the government stood pat. The commission pointed to specific regulations in the U.S. that contributed to more impact on the opioid crisis. Further, the authors say that poor addiction treatment services, lack of good regulation, and not investing well in preventive measures makes the U.S. vulnerable to future addiction epidemics. The authors argued that to help reduce the opioid epidemic in the US, efforts are needed to curb pharmaceutical industry influence such as through patient advocacy groups. However, this seems like a mountain to climb as in 2021 the pharmaceutical and health industry spent more than $352 million to help influence members of Congress so a lot of money is involved. The commission also calls for incorporating addiction treatment into public health services, innovatations in research for painkillers that are not addictive, investments in promoting healthy communities, investments in childhood education, criminal justice reform, and for developed countries to not have the opioid crisis become embedded in developing countries.
It is noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has limited access to opioid addiction services, lead to healthcare systems being strained, and placed more stress on those involved such as due to lack of jobs and loss of many lives. Hopefully the authors predictions on the amount of opioid overdose deaths does not come to fruition and efforts are taken to help.
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