After Third Molar (Wisdom Tooth) Surgery
2 Main Unmet Needs
-Opioid Use-
-Suboptimal Pain Relief-
A group of experts from Harvard, University of Maryland, and Penn published a paper on the topic of opioid use among Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (OMS) and concluded, in part: "... In sum, while recent evidence shows that much progress has been made in increasing responsible opioid prescribing across the healthcare landscape and within OMS in recent years, there remains much to be done."
​
March 2025
Opioid Use Remains A Major Issue
Adolescents, the primary patient population that have wisdom tooth surgery, are at an increased risk of developing an opioid use disorder, even after a single exposure
~25%
​Of all opioid prescriptions for children (age 0-19) were dental related
~40%
Of all opioid prescriptions written by dentists were "high risk", meaning a multi-day supply of high daily dose of opioids were given to opioid-naive patients
~37%
Of emergency department visits linked to a dental patient receiving an opioid
Suboptimal Pain Relief
In a proprietary survey of 348 patients who had third molars (wisdom teeth) extracted:
>90%
Of patients reported use of "rescue" pain medications after surgery
>90%
Of patients said they would be likely to ask for a new pain medication if it was available
The Market
-
~10 million wisdom teeth are extracted in the US every year, resulting in ~3 million new patients per year
-
Outside of wisdom teeth, the average American loses between 4-8 additional teeth in their lifetime
-
Beyond humans - globally, there are ~40 million canine tooth extractions annually
