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Toledo-Area Dentists Join Forces to Battle Opioid Crisis
Sojourner’s Truth Staff
Some years ago, recalls
Dr. Bill Zouhary, DDS, a Rossford dentist, he and his office
partner did not quite see eye-to-eye on the types of
prescriptions they should be giving patients to relieve the
after-effects of dental procedures – the pain that
accompanied such procedures.
Dr. Zouhary admits now
that he didn’t see the danger in prescribing, even over
prescribing narcotics such as Vicodin. His partner did
indeed see the risks and frequently cautioned his against
the dangers of being too liberal with pain medications..
“A patient would need one
Vicodin and I might prescribe 15,” he says. He also says he
was wrong.
Much to his regret he, as
did so many doctors and dentists, fell prey to the
propaganda that pharmacy companies spewed forth in the 1990s
to promote narcotics that they knew would be addictive. And
much to his regret, he realized, far too late, that his
partner’s skepticism was well placed.
So in time, Dr. Zouhary
awakened to the crisis, particularly when the president of
the Ohio Dental Association reported that one of her family
members had become addicted to opioids and committed
suicide.
Dr. Zouhary began working
with the Toledo Dental Society to encourage their members to
alter their prescription habits. In the past two years the
TDS has hosted the Drug Opioid Symposium and Education (D.O.S.E.)
events. The dentists are assisted by the Ohio Automated Rx
Reporting System (OARRS), a database that tracks the
dispensing of controlled prescription drugs to patients.
Dentists with the TDS and
involved with the D.O.S.E events have recognized that
various groups are vulnerable to the over=prescription of
narcotics. Teenagers, in particular, who have their wisdom
teeth removed, and senior citizens who regularly take pain
medication, are two groups particularly susceptible to
opioid addiction.
The dentist group is
focusing efforts on the correct disposal of unneeded pain
pills. The Drug Disposal Solution offers a number of local
sites where medications can be dropped off so that they can
be properly destroyed since drugs should not be flushed down
toilets or thrown away in the garbage.
The disposal locations
will be printed in The Truth in upcoming weeks and can be
seen online at all times.
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