Patterns of analgesic use to relieve tooth pain among residents in British Columbia, Canada

The use of prescription opioids has increased dramatically in Canada in recent decades. This rise in opioid prescriptions has been accompanied by increasing rates of opioid-related abuse and addiction, creating serious public health challenges in British Columbia (BC), one of Canada's most populated provinces. Our study explores the relationship between dental pain and prescription opioid use among residents in BC. We used data from the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), which asked respondents about their use of specific analgesic medications, including opioids, and their history of tooth pain in the past month. We used logistic regression, controlling for potential confounding variables, to identify the predictive value of socioeconomic factors, oral health-related variables, and dental care utilization indicators. The Relative Index of Inequality (RII) was calculated to assess the magnitude of socioeconomic inequalities in the use of particular analgesics by incorporating income-derived ridit values into a binary logistic regression model. Our results showed that conventional non-opioid based analgesics (such as aspirin or Tylenol) and opioids were more likely to be used by those who had experienced a toothache in the past month than those who did not report experiencing a toothache. The use of non-opioid painkillers to relieve tooth pain was associated with more recent and more frequent dental visits, better self-reported oral health, and a greater income. Conversely, a lower household income was associated with a preference for opioid use to relieve tooth pain. The RII for recent opioid use and conventional painkiller use were 2.06 (95% CI: 1.75–2.37) and 0.62 (95% CI: 0.35–0.91), respectively, among those who experienced recent tooth pain, suggesting that adverse socioeconomic conditions may influence the need for opioid analgesics to relieve dental pain. We conclude that programs and policies targeted at improving the dental health of the poor may help to reduce the use of prescription opioids, thereby narrowing health inequalities within the broader society.