There are several uses for compounded medications for dental treatments including treating dental anxiety, pain relievers, tooth whitening treatments, fluoride treatments and several others. Dental anxiety is one particular area where compounded medications can be useful, and they can be customized for the patient based on their needs. The customized compounded treatments make a visit to the dental office much more tolerable and help ease anxiety levels. A wide range of different dental problems can also be treated with compounded medications including gum disease, plaque, canker sores, ulcers, infections, dry socket, oral bleeding, infections, and more.
Dentists can work with compounding pharmacies to develop treatments
Dentists can work with the pharmacists at compounding pharmacies to come up with suitable treatments for their patients. Many dentists, for instance, have created branded treatments that they use regularly in their practice with the assistance of a compounding pharmacy, because they have found a particular customized solution to be more effective than commercial medications. Some examples of compounded treatments that can be just as effective or more effective than commercial medications include:
- Customized whitening gels for tooth whitening
- Balms for treating canker sore pain
- Lollipops or flavored treatments sedation (for dental anxiety)
- Oral antibiotic rinses to prevent infections
- Customized mouth rinses for ulcers
- Dry socket treatments
- TMJ treatments
- Lozenges or chews for gag reflex treatments
- Oral bleeding treatments
- Antibiotic rinses that are non-staining
- Debriding anti-bacterial treatments
- Customized oral thrush treatments such as lollipops
- Root canal paste for treating root canals
- And many others
With the vast range of customized treatments that can be used in dentistry, compounded medications can prove to be highly useful in several different circumstances. The treatments listed above among other treatments are always customized for the patient based on the best delivery method, the dosage that will work best for the patient, and the combination of active ingredients that will work best. Prescriptions can be written by dentists and physicians for these treatments, and most of the compounded medications that are created for dentistry cannot be found at commercial pharmacies or elsewhere.
Compounding pharmacies are vital in dentistry
Compounding pharmacies serve a vital role in dentistry because of the wide range of different patients that dentists regularly treat. Each patient has different needs; pediatric patients may need to have flavored sedatives or flavored fluoride treatments, and older patients may need customized anesthetics for a root canal or dental operation. Injections are commonly used in dentistry to anesthetize an area prior to a treatment. Some patients may have needle anxiety and can receive a topical anesthetic instead of an injected anesthetic, and this is another one of the main uses of compounding pharmacies in dentistry. Dental providers are able to prescribe a wide range of medications that may have been discontinued or are otherwise unavailable, and they can also work with compounding pharmacies to come up with their own unique and customized treatments.
For instance, some dentists have developed topical anesthetics with a powerful combination of different anesthetics, which reduce or eliminate the need for local anesthesia and allow many soft tissue procedures to take place. Some patients are unable to swallow medications and can receive topical administrations instead, and other dosage forms can be created as needed. Although many patients can benefit from topical medications, some patients benefit from other routes of administration because the topical product may not adhere to the oral mucosa. In these cases balms, lozenges, lollipops, oral rinses, or mucosal bandages can be created to deliver a particular medication.
Compounding pharmacies can create multiple medication compounds for dentistry
In other cases, a single active ingredient is not enough to treat a dental problem, such as the case where multiple anesthetics need to be used for a higher potency. In these cases, compounding pharmacies can create compounds with several combined medications which can often be more affordable for the patient because it reduces the need to administer two or more different preparations. These preparations may also save time during procedures by having a faster or more effective activation, improving the efficiency of dentistry procedures.
Not only can the number of medications be controlled, but the flavor of medications can also be altered, which is of particular importance in dentistry when many medications are administered orally. Commercial medications can often be bitter or highly unpleasant, and children in particular may be resistant to receiving these medications. A compounding pharmacy can take a bitter tasting medication and add a chocolate or fruit flavoring to it for instance, and improve the chance that a child patient will find the medication tolerable.
Compounding pharmacies can create customized dosages
The potency of dental medications is another factor that needs to be controlled by dentists, and at a compounding pharmacy dentists can control the potency of each medication or treatment that they use. For instance, whitening treatments may need to be strengthened or reduced for a particular patient, and a fully customized whitening treatment can be developed at a compounding pharmacy.
If patients do not need a higher dosage, compounding pharmacies can create low doses of a medication so that extra medication is not wasted and so that the patient can safely take the medication in question. The proper dosage of a medication also reduces the need for multiple administrations of the medication or for a patient to have to swallow multiple pills, and the most efficient dosage form can be created
Dentists who are interested in some of the benefits that compounding medications can have for their patients should contact The Compounding Pharmacy of Beverly Hills for more information.
