Suboxone is a sublingual strip containing buprenorphine. The medication is taken under the tongue and dissolves there; this can cause less saliva to be produced in your mouth. Saliva is one of the things that protect your teeth from harmful bacteria and acids, and as a result those who take Suboxone can wind up with varying ranges of tooth decay—including broken and lost teeth.
In January 2022, the FDA announced that the agency had gotten information that any medicines dissolved under the tongue that contain buprenorphine had the potential to cause dental problems. The FDA told Indivior to add a warning to the prescribing information medication guide. The FTC paid around $369,000 to consumers in 2023 who joined Suboxone class action lawsuits but missed their original deadlines. In August 2023, the manufacturer settled Suboxone antitrust litigation that health care plans had brought against it for $30 million.
In September 2023, a Suboxone tooth decay lawsuit was filed against Indivior and other defendants when the harm to his teeth caused by Suboxone required him to obtain a large amount of dental work. Plaintiffs’ attorneys filed their clients’ Suboxone tooth decay lawsuits in five different jurisdictions. The plaintiffs asked that all the claims be transferred to the jurisdiction with 10 such cases, the Northern District of Ohio. The plaintiffs’ attorneys’ asked the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) to bring all federal Suboxone lawsuits into multidistrict litigation and the JPML said it would consider consolidating 15 Suboxone lawsuits into an MDL-3092 during a January 2025 hearing.
As of January 2024, the court has not approved any settlements for the Suboxone lawsuits alleging dental problems, and trials are not yet scheduled. However, in May 2021, the Federal Trade Commission arrived at a $60 million agreement with the manufacturer in resolution of false marketing claims. The JPML centralized the tooth decay lawsuits and on February 2, 2024, transferred 15 lawsuits in 5 judicial districts to the Northern District of Ohio as requested. Judge J. Philip Calabrese has been appointed to oversee the docket.
If you have noticed dental troubles after using Suboxone sublingual strips, whether you developed cavities, tooth decay, broken teeth or lost ones that require dental work, you should call our experienced Chicago-based product liability lawyers. We may be able to bring a product liability lawsuit against the manufacturer Indivior.
In other lawsuits, plaintiffs have alleged that the manufacturer knew or should have known of risks but failed to warn medical providers and consumers; a failure to warn claim applies to a product with a marketing defect. You may be able to assert not only a marketing defect, but a manufacturing or, more likely, a design defect as well; generally, in product liability litigation, experts are consulted about a product’s flaws and how they should be classified. When there is a design defect, the pharmaceutical is flawed in how it was designed or formulated, and therefore exists in all units of the product. With a manufacturing defect, however, the flaw may exist only in certain units or batches of units of the sublingual strips, while the other units were made according to the approved design.
When our attorneys are able to establish a manufacturer’s liability, we may be able to recover compensatory damages. In tooth decay lawsuits, a plaintiff’s compensatory damages may include dental surgery, dental care expenses, pain and suffering, lost wages, mental anguish, emotional distress, medical mileage, and out-of-pocket costs. If it turns out that the manufacturer behaved egregiously in knowingly not providing warnings or putting a defective product in the market, punitive damages may also be awarded.
If you or your child was harmed by Suboxone, you should discuss your injuries and what happened with the knowledgeable Chicago-based lawyers of Moll Law Group. We represent injured plaintiffs across the country. Please complete our online form or call us at 312.462.1700.