Do you manage dental pain with opioids?

06 Jan 2026 Do you manage dental pain with opioids?

In January 2026, the Therapeutics Initiative mailed the early release of the individual prescribing Portrait entitled “Do you manage dental pain with opioids?” to dentists in British Columbia (use the DOWNLOAD button above to access the pdf). This prescribing Portrait is accompanied by the Therapeutics Letter “Pharmacological management of dental pain and inflammation” and a copy of a patient information sheet with recommendations for managing dental pain.

Eligible dentists were randomized to receive the Portrait either in this early mailing (January 2026) or will receive a delayed mailing later in 2026. Please note that this limited early release of the Portrait and Letter is intended for the “early group” only and will not be publicly available until the delayed mailing later in 2o26. 

The information below provides more details about the data and definitions shown in your prescribing Portrait.

Abbreviations used

ATC: Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical code assigned to medicine
BCCOHP: British Columbia College of Oral Health Professionals
ICD: International Classification of Diseases
MSP: Medical Services Plan
RCT: Randomized controlled trials

Reference

1. Therapeutics Initiative. Pharmacological management of dental pain and inflammation. Therapeutics Letter. 2025 (October) Limited early release: 1-3. [printed in October and early mailing in January 2026. Note the pdf is marked “confidential” because it will not be public until after the delayed release later in 2026]

Data definitions

Who received this portrait?

BC dentists meeting all of the following criteria received an individual Portrait:

• Registered by the BC College of Oral Health Professionals with an active practice (2024);
• with a valid mailing address in BC; and
• had ≥10 prescriptions of any drug filled at community pharmacies in 2024, according to PharmaNet claims data.

How are patients assigned to this Portrait?

Patients were included in a Portrait if they met all of the following criteria:

• were prescribed an opioid by an eligible BC dentist during the study period.

What prescriptions were counted in this Portrait?

Prescription drugs included: any prescription opioid (ATC code N02A).

Opioid prescription records are extracted from PharmaNet claims data and include all prescriptions filled at a community pharmacy in BC associated with the recipient dentist’s prescribing number.

The following prescription data were not included because these data are not included in our data access agreement:

• prescription data for federally insured patients, including Veterans, RCMP, Armed Forces and beneficiaries of the First Nations Health Authority or Non-Insured Health Benefits;
• reversed prescription claims;
• drugs prescribed “for office use”

…or because the data are not relevant to the project/analysis:

• out-of-province prescriptions; and
• medication dispensed in a hospital or a correctional centre.

PLEASE NOTE: The accuracy of your prescribing Portrait is dependent on the completeness of PharmaNet data; we are unable to capture data on patients who received but did not fill prescriptions.

Research component

The research objective is to determine the impact of the Portrait on prescribing of opioids for dental pain. The study will estimate and compare the impact of interventions (mailing Portrait + Therapeutics Letter) on prescribing of opioids by dentists in BC. This impact is evaluated by comparing pooled prescribing data from dentists in the early mailing group to pooled prescribing data from physicians in the delayed group.

All prescribing data analyzed for this study do not contain names, only encrypted patient and clinician numbers. No dentist or patient will be identified in any reports or publications. Portrait’s data access agreement requires the masking of data elements when <6 individuals (patients or clinicians) are included. Ethics approval for this study is obtained from the University of British Columbia Clinical Ethics Review Board.

Note that British Columbia College of Oral Health Professionals (BCCOHP) does not have access to the prescribing data in the Portraits.

If you have any questions or would like further information with respect to this evaluation, you may contact the Portrait team at (604) 822-4887 or email portrait@ti.ubc.ca

FAQ

Can I request the names of my patients included in this Portrait?

No. Portrait’s data access agreement only permits access to encrypted patient identifiers. There is no way for us to identify individual patients in the data or to provide you with a list.

Why does my Portrait show ranges of patients that I treated (1-20, 20-30, etc.), and not exact numbers?

Portrait’s data access agreement requires the masking of data elements when <6 individuals (patients or clinicians) are included. As prescriptions are presented as percentages, we grouped the number of patients in order to mask low numbers of patients in each daily dose category.

I don’t see my question here. Where can I find more information?

Questions can be directed to our Portrait team by phone (604) 822-4887 or email Portrait@ti.ubc.ca. You can also check out our program FAQ page.

We welcome your feedback.