Volume 17 | February 2025 | | Maine SUD Learning Community Newsletter | | Stephanie Nichols, PharmD, BCPP, MPH, FCCP | |
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“What brought me into this field was the neurotransmitters and the science… But it's the people that keep me here...It's the patients and learners that I interact with. Those are the ones that invigorate me and reinvigorate me.” | | | | Stephanie Nichols, PharmD, BCPP, MPH, FCCP, is an Associate Professor at the University of New England School of Pharmacy, an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Tufts School of Medicine, and a Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorder Pharmacist at Maine Medical Center and the Comprehensive Addiction Medicine Clinic in Portland. (Continued Here) | | SUD Learning Community Journal Club | | |
Greetings,
“The ads have been popping up on Facebook”… what’s the deal with Suboxone and teeth?
Back in 2022, during the haze of the pandemic, the FDA issued a warning about dental decay risk from sublingual buprenorphine medications. What is this based on? How likely is this to be a significant risk? Are films worse than tabs? And what do we tell patients about minimizing potential risk? A Google search led me to a bevy of law firm websites with definitive declarations about the dental harms of Suboxone and details about the related class action lawsuits. Might these be the source of our patients’ Facebook ads?
These claims are based on case reports in the setting of reasonable biologic plausibility (low pH of medication, xerostomia). Reviewed here is the only research beyond case studies attempting to characterize the risk. Here investigators used claims data comparing dental outcomes in patients on buprenorphine/naloxone (bup/nal) to those on naltrexone or transdermal buprenorphine. This brings a significant limitation of confounding by indication but reviewing it does allow us to think more deeply and critically about the claims that are being made. It also provides an opportunity to consolidate background information so that we can educate patients about this question and what they can do to best protect their oral health while continuing therapy.
All the Best,
Andrea
Andrea Truncali, MD MPH
| | FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS | | | |
Is there an increase in cardiovascular risk with the prescribed stimulants? | | | | Stephanie Nichols, PharmD, MPH, BCPP, FCCP dug into the literature to answer this question. See what she found. | | |
3rd Annual ME SUD LC Conference
Sebasco Harbor Resort
Phippsburg, ME
Live & Virtually
9+ Hours of CME & Family Friendly
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This year
Dr. Naburan Dasgupta
in-person
to speak on
Overdose Death Rate
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Project ECHO: SUD Through a Pharmacy Lens
Topic; Session 1
March 5, 2025| 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Speaker: Whitney Jandreau, PharmD, BCPS
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Project ECHO: Adolescent Medicine: How SUD fits
March Topic: Session 7
March 12, 2025 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Speaker: TBD
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April 9, 2025 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Speaker: Terrill Bravender, MD
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Planning for Success: Shared Decision-Making and Outpatient Transition From Fentanyl to Buprenorphine
March 13, 2025 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Speaker: Stephen Martin, MD, EdM; Wesley Brewington, CPC, CDC II, NCPRSS; Drew Mossman, FNP, PMHNP; Danielle Ballosi, NCRPSS, CPRC
| | WEBINAR VIDEO & PODCAST RESOURCES | | | | Welcoming, Integrated Services for People with Co-Occurring Conditions | | Speaker: Kenneth Minkoff, MD | | Learn the principles and ways to apply them to welcome people into your practice. | | Expanding the Conversation | | The new interview series “Expanding the Conversation" highlights first-hand accounts of clinical practices that contributed to an individual’s recovery, and ones that did not. | | | | “Substance use, in many ways, was a way to survive, and it was a thing that was also killing me. So, it was really complex. When providers could see that complexity, I felt safer being open with them.” | | Online Self Paced Courses | | |
Pressed for time?
Enroll in one of our convenient online self-paced courses today!
| | Please visit the ME SUD Learning Community website for upcoming Events and Resources. | | | | | |
