The Board of Dentistry’s Proposed Regulations for Prescribing Opioids for Pain Management have been published and public comments can be submitted through September 7th

The following is a summary that is provided by the agency: 

“Regulations for dentists prescribing of medications containing opioids and for continuing education for prescribers of controlled substances were promulgated as emergency regulations to address the opioid abuse crisis in Virginia; this proposed action will replace the emergency regulations with permanent regulations. Regulations for the management of acute pain include requirements for the evaluation of the patient, limitations on quantity and dosage, and recordkeeping. Management of chronic pain requires either referral to a pain management specialist or adherence to regulations of the Board of Medicine. All dentists who prescribe Schedule II through IV drugs will be required to take two hours of continuing education on pain management.”

As indicated, these regulations will replace the emergency regulations that have been in place since last year.  For information on the status of this regulatory action, you may click here.  To review the proposed regulatory language in full, you may click here. Finally, if you would like to submit a comment to the Board of Dentistry regarding these proposed regulations, click here and click on “Enter a comment” to do so.  The Board of Dentistry will review and discuss comments at their next meeting on September 14^th.