[Pharmwaste] " Pharmacies Are Untapped Resources for Disposing Unused Drugs After Dental Surgery"

[Ed Gottlieb]

Report about a small study on the use and disposal of opioid pain meds prescribed for dental patients.  Just over one-half of prescribed pills were unused twenty-one days after surgery.
“Our recent study estimated that 100 million opioid analgesic pills remain unused following dental surgery (tooth extraction) in the United States each year,” lead study author Brandon C. Maughan, MD, MHS, MSHP, an emergency physician and health services researcher at The Lewin Group, told Pharmacy Times.  “These unused medications serve as a reservoir for potential drug diversion. Consequently, all members of a patient’s care team—including physicians, nurses, and pharmacists—have an obligation to educate patients on safe medication use, including disposal of unused opioids and other medications with high potential for abuse.”

“Pharmacists should advocate for the installation of these drug disposal boxes in their pharmacies and educate patients on how to use them.”
http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/pharmacies-are-untapped-resources-for-disposing-unused-drugs-after-dental-surgery

Ed Gottlieb
Chair, Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal
Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator
Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility
525 3rd Street
Ithaca, NY  14850
(607) 273-8381
fax: (607) 273-8433
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