US dental opioid dispensing drops sharply but is still high

Dental Tribune International

Mon. 11 May 2026

save

ANN ARBOR, Mich., US: Opioid overprescription remains a major concern in dentistry. Although the prescription of opioids by dentists in the US has decreased sharply in recent years, dentists in the country still prescribe opioids at a substantially higher rate than their counterparts in several other high-income countries, a recent study has found.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan in the US and the University of New South Wales in Australia. Building on earlier findings that the dispensing rate of opioid prescriptions from dentists in the US was substantially higher than in the UK in 2016, the researchers examined whether the US rate remains elevated by international standards. Using data from 2021 to 2024, they evaluated trends in dental opioid dispensing in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico and the US.

According to the findings, dental opioid dispensing declined in all jurisdictions studied between 2021 and 2024. The largest relative decreases were recorded in Germany, where the rate fell by almost one-third, and in the US, where it dropped by more than a quarter. Even so, the US still had the highest rate in 2024 at 2,022 prescriptions dispensed per 100,000 people, followed closely by Canada.

Although the gap between the US and the other jurisdictions narrowed over time, it remained substantial. France, Puerto Rico and Australia had rates between half and two-thirds of the US rate. Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands had much lower rates. The US rate was about 14% higher than Canada’s and more than 24 times the rate in the Netherlands, which had the lowest rate of dental opioid dispensing.

“Our study shows that the US dental opioid dispensing rate is decreasing, but remains high by international standards,” lead author Dr Kao-Ping Chua, associate professor of paediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School, said in a press release. “This finding suggests that some US dentists are still overprescribing opioids,” he added.

Non-opioid alternatives

The findings align with a broader shift away from routine opioid use for dental pain. Dental Tribune International has previously reported that cannabidiol, a non-opioid analgesic, has been show to have considerable promise for pain reduction and could help address the opioid epidemic in healthcare. The American Dental Association has also endorsed a guideline recommending acetaminophen and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as first-line treatment for short-term dental pain in children under 12 as well as for adults, rather than opioids such as codeine or tramadol. The study reported that two-thirds of opioid prescriptions by dentists in the US are for tooth extraction, indicating that there is still substantial room to reduce opioid use in dental care.

The study, titled “International trends in dental opioid prescriptions”, was published online on 17 April 2026 in JAMA Network Open.