It's not a pain to Be Medicinewise

The Australian Dental Association (ADA) wants all Australians to Be Medicinewise, especially when it comes to using painkillers and analgesia to address dental pain.

Be Medicinewise Week (BMW, 13 – 19 October) is a national awareness and education initiative run by NPS MedicineWise to encourage Australians to use their medicines safely and more effectively.

The theme for this year's BMW, now in its fourth year, is Are your medicines helping or hindering?

The focus will be on a different issue during each day of BMW. The ADA wants to echo Friday 17 October's message about painkillers and analgesia. Pain relievers are medicines that work to reduce the feeling of pain. They are also known as analgesics and painkillers.

Dr Derek Lewis, from the ADA's Oral Health Committee, said: "Nobody likes pain. Understandably, some people will take anything to avoid pain at any cost. Jumping straight away to painkillers and analgesics to address a toothache for example has potential dangers. The ADA cautions all Australians to Be Medicinewise."

Different pain relievers can contain different active ingredients. It is important for patients to know what these are and which one(s) they are taking, particularly if they are taking more than one medicine. Also, many analgesic products contain combinations of different drugs.

Dr Lewis warned, "Without the right knowledge, patients may inadvertently overdose themselves if they take several of these products simultaneously. Also, it is inappropriate to use one form of analgesic that has been prescribed for a specific type of pain (such as a broken arm) to address another kind of pain such as a toothache. Patients should therefore not save unused medications to address any other pain they experience that is not intended to be addressed by that specific analgesic."

BMW has information about the following painkillers and analgesics:

• Paracetamol, including who can take it, its side effects and interactions.
• Ibuprofen, including who can take it, its side effects and interactions.
• Aspirin, including who can take it, its side effects and interactions.

Dr Lewis noted: "It's important to continue to Be MedicineWise even after a procedure such as a dental extraction. Patients must take their medications as prescribed by their dentists as what is prescribed will be more effective than combinations of paracetamol and codeine."^1,2

Reference

1. Opioids. In: eTG Oral and Dental. Melbourne: Therapeutic Guidelines Limited; 2007.
2. Abbott PV. Medical management of dental and oral pain. Aust Prescr 2007;30:77-9.