ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The results of a new study could be a game changer in the effort to battle the opioid drug addiction problem facing New York state and nation.

The University of Rochester Medical Center’s Eastman Institute for Oral Health is announcing the research.


What You Need To Know

  • A new study from Eastman Dental could help battle the war on opioid addiction

  • Study participants take acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Advil) at the same time

  • The study finds that over-the-counter meds work better than opioids with acetaminophen for pain management 

Eastman Dental is one of five sites for the National Institutes of Health-funded study. It is the largest study comparing opioids to non-opioids for pain management and the results could make a difference in the opioid addiction crisis.

“It's the sense is that I think that opioids is a better pain medication now, but I think we demonstrated here in this large study that that's not really true,” said the man leading the study at Eastman Dental, Chair Dr. Hans Malmstrom. “We recruited 1,815 patients.”

The patients had their impacted wisdom teeth removed. For pain management, half were given an opioid combination of hydrocodone and acetaminophen – Tylenol. The other half received a non-opioid combination of ibuprofen – Advil or Motrin and acetaminophen – but taken at the same time.

“I think that I want to emphasize because many people in the past, we stagger them," Malmstrom said. "So, you took every other time same way for six hours. But that hasn't shown the same effectiveness. It has to be taken together when you have the acute pain."

“I was very surprised by the over-the-counter meds that were prescribed,” said Calvin Sam. He had a wisdom tooth pulled just one week ago and was not prescribed an opioid, but rather the Advil and Tylenol combo.

“I did experience that discomfort after the procedure," Sam said. "But once I took the ibuprofen and Tylenol, the pain subsided, and everything was fine."

That falls in line with the findings of the study.

“So, the findings are basically that the effectiveness for pain management was higher [or] better than when you use the non-opioid," Malmstrom said. "It's a combination then of ibuprofen and acetaminophen. And, in fact, the second big part [is that] the side effects were less.”

The participants in the study taking the non-opioid medications reported significantly less pain during the first two days post-surgery when the pain is most severe and were satisfied with their pain management. They also report sleeping better compared to those taking the opioid medications.

The researchers involved hope this study will put a dent in the opioid addiction problem.

“That's the hope," Malmstrom said. "I think it's been well received, yes. So, we certainly hope so. Hopefully, the prescribers look at this study and make a decision that the first line of medication should be the non-opioids when you have acute pain."

Eastman Dental says five million young adults are exposed each year to opioids after wisdom teeth extractions.