Prescription Drug Abuse and Oral Clues - an Overview

Drug abuse is a growing trend, with people in every walk of life and at every economic level abusing drugs. Prescription drugs are those that are both legal and sanctioned by doctors. Most of these drugs are accurately labeled so those who want to use them to get ′high′ know exactly what is in them. Among the various known routes of prescription drug abuse, snorting, smoking and oral use of drugs are the ones that concern us the most because of their possible oral clues. The patient may present to us with a complaint of dry mouth or a characteristic pattern of caries or even perforation of the palate. Drug abusers are known to be psychologically unstable and often do not disclose the habit and tend to fake symptoms as well. It thus becomes a highly challenging task for the oral diagnostician to recognize such lesions and correlate them to the abuse of drugs. Also, extreme caution should be taken while prescribing drugs with a potential for abuse.