We didn’t fill that prescription, but most people do. Eighty percent of people aged 13 to 30 who had their wisdom teeth removed filled an opioid prescription according to an analysis of nearly 80,000 patients published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last August.

That decision to stop by the pharmacy can have lasting consequences. In the JAMA study, people who filled their opioid prescription were nearly three times as likely as those who didn’t to continue to use opioids in the year following their procedure. Other research has found that teens who take a prescribed opioid in high school are more likely to use these drugs later on.

Here’s the twist: My son likely got better relief from safer, over-the-counter drugs.