Anesthesia & Pain Management Insider: Caffeine may be opioid alternative for implant therapy

Dear Anesthesia & Pain Management Insider,

Can caffeine help solve the opioid crisis? A study compared pain and swelling incidence for nearly 80 patients after implant treatment and found that acetaminophen with caffeine may be a viable alternative to opioids after dental implant treatment. Learn more in our Insider Exclusive.

In other Anesthesia & Pain Management Community news, in response to a national television segment on pediatric sedation, Dr. James Nickman, the president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, emphasizes that the safety and welfare of children are the academy's top priorities and urges a focus on preventing childhood tooth decay. Read more here.

Looking for a way to distract your patients? Have them take a walk on the wild side. Researchers found that immersing dental patients in a virtual reality environment with nature scenes was most effective at distracting them during their procedures, compared with virtual urban scenes or no distraction at all. Learn more here.

A patient returns to your office just days after you performed a mandibular block. You refer the patient to an oral surgeon, then don't hear from the patient again. Until three months later and you are being served. In their latest Legal Cases series, William S. Spiegel and Dr. Marc R. Leffler document how they handled this case for their client and what you can do to try to prevent it from happening. Read more here.

In the Anesthesia & Pain Management Community, you'll also find the following recent industry news and continuing education (CE) courses:

• New CE courses address pain management and opioids, infection control, and more.
• Ibuprofen should be used as the first-line postsurgical pain management therapy, according to a new white paper from the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.
• Hawaii has passed a stricter dental sedation law.