Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog
Suboxone Dental Damage. A product liability and negligence lawsuit has been filed against the makers of Suboxone sublingual film as a result of using this medication. The complaint alleges that the Suboxone oral strips cause severe enamel erosion and tooth decay, leading to painful teeth extractions.
Suboxone film strips linked Dental Damage and painful extractions. Injured? Call Dr. Shezad Malik at 214-390-3189
Vincent Delcastillo recently filed his injury claim in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, against the drug manufacturers Indivior Inc., Aquestive Therapeutics Inc, Monosol Rx In., and Reckitt Benckiser LLC.
According to Delcastillo, patients and the prescribing doctors were not adequately warned about the dental risks associated with Suboxone oral strips.
Delcastillo became addicted to opioids after being prescribed them for pain management. To tackle the addiction he was prescribed Suboxone oral strips.
Delcastillo was not warned about the risks of serious dental erosion and tooth decay associated with the Suboxone dissolvable film strips.
According to the lawsuit, “The formulation of Suboxone film is designed to be acidic to maximize absorption of the buprenorphine while minimizing absorption of the naloxone. This acidic formulation leads to dental erosion and decay. Defendants knew or should have known that Suboxone film, when used as prescribed and intended, causes harmful damage to the teeth due to the acidity of buprenorphine.”
Delcastillo suffered serious permanent tooth damage, requiring substantial dental work, as a direct result of Suboxone use.
What is Suboxone?
Suboxone is a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2002. Suboxone is used for the treatment of recovering opioid addicts to avoid withdrawal symptoms while undergoing addiction therapy.
Suboxone was initially in a tablet formulation, then the drug makers developed Suboxone film strips, to extend the patent. The medicated film strip is placed by patients under the tongue until it is dissolved, which takes several minutes.
Suboxone is Acidic
Suboxone is acidic, Suboxone film strips have a pH of 3.4 when dissolved in water. As a reference point, lemon juice has a pH between 2 and 3, which means it’s 10,000–100,000 times more acidic than water.
As a result of its acidity, Suboxone can wear away enamel exposing the dentine and make teeth more susceptible to decay. Many people who take Suboxone also have low saliva levels, which can make teeth more vulnerable to decay. Thousands of patients have reported developing catastrophic tooth decay from Suboxone strip side effects, resulting in extracted teeth.
New Warnings added to Suboxone
In June 2022 Suboxone tooth decay warnings were added to the medication, after the FDA observed more than 300 adverse reports of dental damage.
The FDA has warned that buprenorphine medicines can cause dental problems, including tooth decay, cavities, oral infections, and loss of teeth.
Delcastillo and an enlarging pool of other similarly affected patients nationwide are now filing Suboxone strip lawsuits against the manufacturers. The complaints have similar allegations that the patients may have avoided permanent disfiguring tooth decay and damage if they had been provided information about the acid and dental risks and instructed to take steps to avoid enamel erosion and subsequent tooth decay and loss.
Suboxone New Use Instructions
Now patients are instructed when starting treatment with Suboxone, you should only take the sublingual film under the tongue. After the film is dissolved, you can rinse your mouth with water and swallow. You should wait at least an hour before brushing your teeth.
Delcastillo claims that the manufacturers underreported dental adverse events to the FDA, and marketed the Suboxone strips to an extremely vulnerable group of patients.
According to Delcastillo, “For the patient population Defendants have targeted, the risk of being lost to follow-up care is higher than for patients not suffering from opioid use disorder. Patients suffering from opioid use disorder experience barriers related to stigma, insurance, and finances generally.”
Suboxone Lawsuit Status
Recently in February, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued a transfer order creating the Suboxone lawsuit multidistrict litigation (MDL). Now all federal Suboxone lawsuits nationwide will be centralized under U.S. District Judge Philip Calabrese in the Northern District of Ohio for coordinated pretrial proceedings.
Suboxone and Dental Damage? Contact Dr. Shezad Malik Law Firm
If you or a loved one used Suboxone and have suffered serious dental problems including dental extractions, contact the attorneys at Dr. Shezad Malik Law Firm to learn more about your legal rights. You can speak with one of our representatives by calling 214-390-3189, or by filling out the case evaluation form on this page.
Our law firm’s principal office is in Dallas and we have offices in Fort Worth, Texas. Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm represents clients in dangerous drug and dangerous medical device lawsuits nationwide.