Pain Management for Dental Medicine in 2021: Opioids, Coronavirus and Beyond.

Over the past year our attention has inevitably been on the coronavirus pandemic, the health and welfare of our families, patients, and office staffs as well as the re-opening of our dental practices. In addition, the opioid crisis continues, is very likely to worsen as a result of the pandemic and continues to be a challenge to Dentistry. National public health issues and healthcare disparities continue and have created a global concern for providing evidence-based, adequate pain management in the dental setting.

Opioid Prescribing in Dental Practice: Managing Liability Risks.

Dentistry should be proud of its history of providing responsible pain relief, as well as becoming more cautious in prescribing opioid medications when other safer pharmacologic options exist. Our training directs us to first eliminate the source of dental pain and prescribe analgesics only as adjunctive relief. Prescriptions must be written for a legitimate dental purpose and for a patient of record.

Interprofessional Collaboration in the Assessment and Management of Substance Use Risk.

Substance use disorder assessment strategies are increasingly being employed by dentistry, while adequate evaluation requires reaching out to other cotreating providers and collaborating on patient care. The field of dentistry has a range of barriers often not experienced in other professions, including limitations on e-record communication and clinical practice setting often isolated from the patient's general medical care. Barriers can be overcome if the dentist facilitates communication.