Buprenorphine-Fucks with your teeth?

[THECATINTHEHAT]

I've been on 24mg for about three and a half months now and I'm pretty sure it's fucking up my teeth and making them more sensitive (which implies the enamel is thinning).

Every time I take them I dissolve them under the tongue (which takes about 30 minutes), making sure I don't swallow any of the saliva as they dissolve and then keep the saliva in my mouth for about another 30 minutes to make sure as much of the bupe as possible is adsorbed sublingually/buccally due to the 0% oral bio-availability.

Has anyone else noticed this effect? Is there anything I can do other than brushing with Sensodyne and using a fluoride mouthwash to help keep them in good shape?

Not sure if this is the right section but I guess it will probably get the best response here, mods please kick it elsewhere if you think otherwise.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

People in OD mentioned this while I was modding.

I can't say they were wrong but I fail to understand the correlation.

 

[THECATINTHEHAT]

Just found the leaflet in a box and looking at the ingredients list now they contain sodium citrate (citric acid) and anhydrous citric acid....that's going to be culprits right there. An hour of a mouthful of acidic saliva has got to be bad for the teeth.

 

[Shambles]

It didn't occur to me at the time but when I was briefly put back on bupe recently my teeth became much more sensitive. I've suffered with sensitive teeth off and on for as long as I recall so couldn't say if it was specifically connected but they'd been fine for ages and came on all of a sudden and stopped once I was kicked off script again. As I said, never made any connections at the time but now you come to mention it the timing was a bit uncanny and specific. I also required at least half an hour for the pills to dissolve and kept the saliva swishing around for a good while afterwards. The pharmacist seemed to think this was very unusual and that it should only take five minutes or so for Subbiez to dissolve (cos that's what is says in his big book of drug facts apparently). Whatever the case I do know my teeth became excessively sensitive whilst I was on bupe and stopped being so sensitive fairly quickly after I stopped taking it. Whether or not there is an actual connection I have no clue.

 

[neversickanymore]

Im not sure about bupe.. but methadone combined with other things certainly did a number on mine. I was fortunate to get off in time to save them. I would also suggest that anyone on maintenance get a Vitamin D level checked and be on daily vitamin D supplements.

 

[THECATINTHEHAT]

Yeah I've heard of methadone wrecking people's teeth, supposedly because of the sugar but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me because it's no more sugary than a soft drink, it's only in your mouth a second and most people wash it down with something after taking it anyway. I was only on it ~6 months but I certainly didn't notice it affecting my teeth. What do you think is the cause behind it wrecking people's teeth? I've got a big tub of multivits with iron and strips of max strength fish oil that I used to take daily when I was clean and training hard, need to start loading up on them again. Need them now more than ever.

Shambles: Yeah I think most pharmacists are fucking clueless tbh, and I think that the problem is exacorbated by most people having no idea of the nature of bupe's oral bioavailability (or even what bioavailability is) and just swallowing the saliva. I've even seen people adding water in to their mouth to help them dissolve, just washing them down really.

 

[neversickanymore]

I think its multi faceted.. there is likely more damage from the mouth being generally dryer due to the drugs, people may be less likely to take good care of their teeth, and the fact that methadone is suspected of lowering vitamin D levels as well.. may all be places where its use could effect teeth inversely.



I think the idea of analgesic induced increases in pain and sensitivity could also be the reason for the sensitivity.. the brain likes its homeostasis so if we constantly take something that decrease our sensitivity then makes total sense to me that the brain could try and return to homeostasis by ramping up the levels of sensitivity.. thus making things worse in the long run. This may also be shown in the fact that people who are newly clean have very strong emotional responses as this could be because they were ramped up in order to compensate for the drug being on board for so long.

 

[THECATINTHEHAT]

All makes sense.

I didn't look after my teeth at all for years on end, would brush them a couple of times a week at best 8(. Had nine filllings and a wisdom tooth extraction (at great expense) when I was clean last year. Was looking after them really well for a short while, then it all went to shit again. Looking after them reasonably well again now (brush and mouthwash once a day) but need to sort it out and brush twice a day. It's pure laziness not to.