Table 3.

Treatment for substance use disorder

Drugs use to treat addiction	Oral effects
Methadone	Synthetic opioid used to treat patients addicted to opioids e.g. heroin, morphine, fentanyl: administered orally and usually has a high sugar content. Request that only methadone formulations made with sorbitol be dispensed by the methadone clinic Concomitant use of methadone with antidepressants can lead to xerostomia Like other opioids, methadone can increase sugar cravings Bruxism
Buprenorphine	Semisynthetic opioid with partial agonist activity at the mu receptor. Used for the treatment of opioid dependence Administered sublingually. Due to its acidic nature, studies suggest it increases caries risk It induces xerostomia and thus increases caries risk