Big Pharma’s Painkiller Fraud

Unless
you’ve been living under a rock, you know that opioid painkillers have caused a
deadly wave of addiction in the U.S. over the last decade.

More
than 400,000 Americans have died from overdoses. Many thousands more have been
turned into addicts, their lives destroyed after their doctors prescribed them
pain medications that Big Pharma swore were safe.[1]

But
through all the death, addiction, and pharmaceutical industry lies, one thing
was assumed to be true: Opioids effectively reduce pain.

New
research shows that’s not true, at least when it comes to dental pain. It’s one
of the most common reasons opioids are prescribed.

The
study comes from the University of Michigan. Researchers looked at more than
325 people who had teeth pulled. Some had been prescribed opioids, some hadn’t.[2]

The
researchers found that patients who took opioids reported worse pain than those who didn’t.

Also
cause for concern: People took only about half the opioids they were
prescribed. What happened to the rest?

They
may have ended up in the hands of an addict, fueling the addiction crisis.

Dr.
Chad Brummett was the study’s co-author. He said the results back up previously
published randomized-controlled trials showing opioids are not superior to “acetaminophen
and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for pain after dental extraction.”[3]

Dr.
Brummett and his co-author, Professor Romesh Nalliah, agree that dentists’
painkiller prescribing practices need an overhaul.

The
American Dental Association supports opioid prescribing for up to a week. But
Professor Nalliah said even that is too much.

He said
dentists should cut the amount of addicting painkillers they prescribe by 90%.
The only exceptions should be patients who can’t tolerate nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs), said Professor Nalliah. They include ibuprofen,
naproxen, and aspirin.

Research shows opioids are lousy at relieving
non-dental pain as well.

Researchers from Boston’s Tufts Medical
Center analyzed 23 clinical trials. These involved 11,400 osteoarthritis
patients. They found that opioids provide mild pain relief…at first. But their
effectiveness quickly diminishes.[4]

The
data showed that the painkillers don’t improve patients’ quality of life. And
they don’t help with the depression that often accompanies chronic pain.

Safer Ways to Ease Dental
Pain