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Dental painkillers could put young people at risk of opioid addiction, study says

Posted at 12:58 PM, Dec 10, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-10 14:37:45-05

Teenagers and young adults who are prescribed opioid painkillers to teenagers and young adults can be at risk of addiction, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

As of 2016, there have been 19,354 deaths in the opioid epidemic, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

NIH also says that roughly 21 to 29 percent of patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them.

The study found that there was a 6.8 percent increase in persistent opioid use and a 5.4 percent increase in the diagnosis of opioid abuse.

Ultimately, the study concluded that a substantial proportion of adolescent=ts and young adults are exposed to opioids through dental clinicians.