[phil21]

No opioids after my wisdom teeth extraction would have resulted in potentially suicide. The pain was unbearable, and 3-4 days of hydrocodone was absolutely proscribed.

There is nothing wrong with opiates being used for acute pain relief. They are a modern miracle when put to such uses.

The problem comes when you start using them for long-term pain relief - a use-case in which they are neither appropriate or effective.

A typical 2-3 day prescription after major dental (or other) work is not remotely a problem, and I really have no idea why this is where the focus is. It's always been long-term abuse as the actual problem - the weird overreaction over a few days use for acute pain is utterly absurd and only hurts people in some bizzare way for folks to feel they are "helping" fix the abuse problem.