Many years ago I had all four wisdom teeth removed at once at the Mayo Clinic. No, I wasn't fancy and didn't fly there, I was an employee.
They gave me 10 or 20 Vicodin pills and, despite some pain, my choice was to take no more than one or two. So it's not just crappy dentists that gave those out. On the other end, someone else might have taken the whole bottle, so perhaps individual behavior is still the key factor.
Even if they did take the whole bottle, no one is going to become an addict by taking “10-20 pills” (which translates to 3-6 days worth). There’s more or less a “reefer madness” going on now, just with opiates. Yes, opiates can be dangerous. No, a few low doses are not going to make you an addict.
Of course, cue someone responding with something along the lines of “my sister once took an opiate and she immediately started shooting heroin and had withdrawals for 2 years.”
OTC ibuprofen works just fine for a lot of these cases btw.
People think that opiates is like the only way to relieve pain.
I don't think what I am sayin here is that you will get addicted after taking 10 Vicodins, of course not.
But what about 30? 45? There is a point when it becomes dangerous.
And here is where this mentality becomes problematic. If you need to take opiates for 3 days after a root canal, surely you'll need to take them after you broke your arm, or after any other procedure and for longer. And you didn't have a problem after taking it for 3 days, so what's the harm?
perhaps individual behavior is still the key factor
I strongly disagree given that we're talking about addictive substances and the power of doctors coupled with the DOJ finding manufacturers guilty of kickback schemes.
They gave me 10 or 20 Vicodin pills and, despite some pain, my choice was to take no more than one or two. So it's not just crappy dentists that gave those out. On the other end, someone else might have taken the whole bottle, so perhaps individual behavior is still the key factor.