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Sublingual/Buccal buprenorphine and dental problems: a pharmacovigilance study
Romain Barus1, François Montastruc1, Claire de Canecaude1
1Department of Medical and Clinical Pharmacology, Centre of PharmacoVigilance and Pharmacoepidemiology, Toulouse University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Toulouse, France.
Background:
The association between dental problems and sublingual/buccal buprenorphine is unclear. We conducted an analysis of dental adverse drug reactions reported with sublingual/buccal buprenorphine in VigiBase®, the pharmacovigilance database of the World Health Organization.
Research Design And Methods:
We performed disproportionality analyses to compare the reporting rates of dental problems with sublingual/buccal buprenorphine, compared to other buprenorphine formulations and methadone. Significant signals were considered if the lower boundary of the 95% confidence interval of the Reporting Odds Ratio (ROR) was > 1; cases were ≥ 3 and p-value <0.05. We conducted sensitivity analyses by calculating the ROR according to the reporter's qualification and the reporting continent (United States of America and Europe).
Results:
We included 30,769 reports with all buprenorphine forms. We found 20 cases of dental problems with sublingual/buccal buprenorphine. Sublingual/buccal buprenorphine was associated with an overreporting of dental problems compared to other buprenorphine formulations (ROR = 15.10; 95% CI [7.50-30.39]; p < 0.005) and compared to methadone (ROR = 6.02; 95% CI [3.21-11.30]; p < 0.005). Overreporting of dental problems was consistent in sensitivity analyses, except in Europe compared with other buprenorphine formulations and with methadone.
Conclusions:
Sublingual/buccal buprenorphine might increase the risk of reporting dental problems. However, these results do not modify the benefits of sublingual/buccal buprenorphine in the treatment of opioid use disorders.
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