ROCHESTER, N.Y. — There is a promising new alternative to dental procedure pain relief.

The University of Rochester believes it will reduce opioid addiction.

The evidence comes from new research that found people given acetaminophen and ibuprofen, instead of opioids, after dental extractions came back less often for pain treatment.

The study also found a non-opioid nerve pain medication given to those allergic to the other pain relievers delivered similar results.

"Many patients, and many dentists too, consider opioids are stronger, so they prefer to use opioids," said Dr. Yan-Fang Ren of the Eastman Institute for Oral Health. "So historically, I mean 90% of the patients after tooth extraction will get opioids. So that has really contributed to the problem and dentists prescribe a lot of opiates."

More than 100,000 people in America died from opioids last year.