Campaigns and Partnerships
The ADA works with a number of outside organizations to raise professional and consumer awareness about how to keep opioids from becoming a source of harm. Some of these campaigns and partnerships are listed below.
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Medicine Abuse Project
Partnership for Drug-Free Kids
The ADA urges dentists to make sure patients leave their offices knowing about the dangers of misusing prescription medications, how these medications can end up in the wrong hands, and how to safely store, monitor, and discard them at home. One way is to encourage patients to sign the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids' Medicine Abuse Project pledge to safeguard their medicines and talk with their families about medicine abuse.
Most people who abuse prescription opioids get them for free from a friend or relative, and those drugs are often obtained from the home medicine cabinet and sometimes the trash. The Medicine Abuse Project aims to keep these drugs from getting into the wrong hands by teaching parents how to talk with their families about the dangers of medicine abuse and how to safeguard and dispose of their unused medications at home.
The ADA has supported the Medicine Abuse Project since its inception.
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National Prescription Drug Take-Back Campaign
Drug Enforcement Administration
The ADA urges dentists to tell their patients how to safely store, monitor, and discard their unused medications at home. One way is to tell them about local prescription drug take-back events and authorized prescription drug disposal sites.
The Drug Enforcement Administration's National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is an opportunity for the public to safely dispose of their unused prescription drugs at participating collection sites throughout the country. While there, participants can learn about the dangers of misusing prescription medications, how these drugs can end up in the wrong hands, and how to safely store, monitor, and discard them at home.
The ADA has supported the National Prescription Drug Take-Back campaign since 2012.
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National Recovery Month
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
The ADA urges dental societies everywhere to participate in (or possibly host) a National Recovery Month event in September to support our recovering colleagues, encourage those who need help to seek it, and reflect on how we manage dental pain for patients who may be in recovery or prone to addiction.
Through rallies, picnics, motorcycle rides, walks/runs and other community events, Recovery Month reinforces the positive message that prevention works, treatment is effective, and people can (and do) recover.
Recovery Month is an also opportunity to build stronger ties between state and local dental societies and the recovery community at large. These ties can help bolster dental peer assistance programs, which leverage the confidentiality, trust, and understanding of a tightly knit profession to support our recovering colleagues.
The ADA has supported the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Recovery Month since 2004.
Find a Planning Partner
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Providers' Clinical Support System for Opioid Therapies
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry
Take advantage of the ADA's free online continuing education courses covering the latest techniques for prescribing opioids safely and effectively. The webinars are:
- free;
- convenient to access;
- tailored to pain management in dentistry; and
- available to members and non-members alike.
Plus, the ADA CERP credential provides a sound basis for state regulatory agencies to accept the continuing education (CE) credit for licensure.
The ADA produces four webinars a year thanks, in part, to a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP).
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Search and Rescue
Partnership for Drug-Free Kids
The ADA has supported the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids' Search and Rescue project since 2016. The online campaign connects prescribers with technical resources to help them identify and appropriately respond to patients who might have a substance use disorder, be prone to addiction, or seeking narcotics for illicit purposes. Prescribers can also find materials to help them counsel patients about how opioids can be addictive and how to safely secure, monitor, and discard them at home.
The ADA urges dentists to take advantage of these resources to learn how and why opioid abuse has become a national crisis and what they can do to keep these drugs from becoming a source of harm.
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Turn the Tide
United States Surgeon General
The ADA urges dentists everywhere to sign the Surgeon General's online pledge to help curb the widespread abuse of opioid pain medications.
- Educate ourselves to treat pain safely and effectively.
- Screen our patients for opioid use disorders and provide or connect them with evidence-based treatment.
- Talk about and treat addiction as a chronic illness, not a moral failing.
The ADA has supported the Surgeon General's Turn the Tide campaign since its inception. The campaign seeks to increase professional awareness about opioid abuse and mobilize health care professionals to improve their prescribing practices.
Prepared by: Division of Government and Public Affairs
Last Updated: October 15, 2018