North Carolina's Dental Opioid Action Plan

In November 2022, The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services released an updated NC Dental Opioid Action Plan, 2022-2025. It was developed with representatives from the North Carolina Dental Society, public health experts, dental specialty providers and multiple oral health stakeholders. The five-year plan encourages dentists confronting the opioid epidemic to both prescribe opioids judiciously and connect their patients in need to community resources. 

Pain medications, including opioids, are often prescribed to manage pain after dental treatments. Patients who have been prescribed opioids face the potential for misuse. The strategies outlined in the NC Dental Opioid Action Plan, 2022-2025 can help prevent misuse. The Dental Opioid Action Plan is aligned with the state’s Opioid and Substance Use Action Plan (OSUAP) 3.0 and represents the work of the North Carolina Dental Opioid Workgroup.

Additional Resources

NCDHHS, the NC Department of Justice and the North Carolina Dental Society created brochures to better educate North Carolina’s dental patients about prescription drug safety and safe ways to manage pain after dental treatments. The educational materials explain the risks associated with opioids. Each version of the brochure reviews the questions patients frequently ask dentists about pain after dental procedures, outlines how patients can responsibly take pain medications, and provides information to properly dispose of unused or expired medications. 

Multiple versions of the brochure are available for dentists to use. Dental office staff are encouraged to download the version deemed most useful for their practice. For example, the Fillable PDF allows dental practice administrators to personalize the brochure with the dental practice’s information and include the address of the dental office’s closest drop off site for their patients’ unused or expired medication.