A new study has prompted calls for dentists to be part of the solution to stem the use of opioids in Australia.
Opioids play an important part in pain relief and include drugs such as codeine, oxycodone, tramadol and morphine.
However, prescription opioids are now causing far more deaths and poisonings than heroin.
The study — 'Dental opioid prescribing rates after the up-scheduling of codeine in Australia' — was co-authored by Dr Sam Hollingworth from the UQ School of Pharmacy and is published in the journal Nature.
UQ's Associate Professor Chris Freeman spoke to 9 News about the issue, in his role as National President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia