Overdose rates were two-and-a-half times higher among patients who filled a prescription for an opioid medication after a dental procedure, compared with those who didn’t, according to a new study. Overdose rates were also higher among the family members of these patients—possibly from misuse of the leftover pills. For the study, researchers used data from 8.5 million dental procedures in teen and adult patients between 2011 and 2018. The dental care was covered by Medicaid or private dental insurance. Nearly 27 percent of these patients filled a prescription for an opioid such as hydrocodone or oxycodone. The researchers identified 2,700 overdoses that occurred in the 90 days after a tooth extraction or 119 other dental procedures. That works out to about three overdoses for every 10,000 dental procedures. The rate was 5.8 per 10,000 among those who filled an opioid prescription within three days of their procedure, compared with 2.2 …