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<div style="direction: ltr;font-family: Tahoma;color: #000000;font-size: 10pt;">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.<br>
<blockquote>“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 <em>Pharmacy Times.</em> “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.”<br>
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“Pharmacists should advocate for the installation of these drug disposal boxes in their pharmacies and educate patients on how to use them.”<br>
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http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/pharmacies-are-untapped-resources-for-disposing-unused-drugs-after-dental-surgery<br>
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<div style="font-family:Tahoma; font-size:13px"><font><span style="font-size:" lang="en-US">
<div>Ed Gottlieb<br>
Chair, Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal<br>
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<div>Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator</div>
<div>Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility<br>
525 3<font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><sup>rd</sup></font> Street</div>
<div>Ithaca, NY 14850</div>
<div>(607) 273-8381</div>
<div>fax: (607) 273-8433</div>
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