Suboxone Destroyed Your Teeth. It Wasn't Your Fault. You Have Legal Rights.

What Is the Suboxone Dental Lawsuit?

Thousands of people who used Suboxone sublingual film (buprenorphine/naloxone) to treat opioid use disorder are now filing lawsuits against the drug's manufacturer, Indivior PLC, after suffering severe dental damage — including tooth decay, fractures, and complete tooth loss.

Suboxone film is prescribed to dissolve under the tongue, where it's absorbed into the bloodstream. But the film's highly acidic formulation — with a pH of approximately 3.4 (similar to orange juice) — also bathes the teeth in acid repeatedly, day after day, for months or years. Over time, this acid erodes tooth enamel, causing serious and often irreversible dental damage.

Many patients who used Suboxone as directed had no dental problems before starting treatment. After months or years of use, they found themselves with rotting teeth, broken teeth, and extractions — expenses not covered by insurance that often run into tens of thousands of dollars.

Why Didn't Anyone Warn You?

This is one of the most important parts of this litigation: patients weren't warned for years — even though the manufacturers had information about dental risks from clinical development.

The FDA's June 2022 warning states that the agency received reports of "severe dental problems," including "tooth decay, cavities, oral infections, and loss of teeth" in patients using buprenorphine sublingual medicines. These problems were reported even in patients who had never had dental problems before.

There are several reasons patients often didn't connect their dental problems to Suboxone:

• Many patients assumed their dental problems were from past substance use — and felt too embarrassed or ashamed to discuss it with their doctors
• Dentists weren't warned — so they also didn't connect the dots
• The FDA warning came years after the drug became widely prescribed
• Suboxone helped people recover — patients focused on staying well, not watching their teeth

This was not your fault. You were prescribed a medication by your doctor. You followed the instructions. The manufacturer had an obligation to warn you — and they didn't.

Do You Qualify for a Suboxone Dental Injury Lawsuit?

You may be eligible to file a claim if the following apply:

Important note on the discovery rule: Many states allow the statute of limitations clock to start when you discovered (or reasonably should have discovered) that Suboxone caused your dental damage — not when the damage first appeared. This is especially relevant for patients who attributed their dental problems to prior substance use. You may have more time than you think.

How Does Suboxone Damage Teeth?

The mechanism is straightforward: Suboxone sublingual film has a highly acidic pH of approximately 3.4. For comparison, battery acid has a pH of about 1, and tooth enamel begins to dissolve at pH 5.5. Orange juice has a pH of around 3.5.

When you place Suboxone film under your tongue, the dissolving film creates an acidic environment in your mouth that lasts for 5-10 minutes. Used as directed — once or twice daily, every day, for months or years — this repeated acid exposure causes:

• Demineralization of tooth enamel (the protective outer layer)
• Dental erosion — enamel wears away permanently
• Tooth decay and cavities — bacteria thrive in damaged enamel
• Tooth sensitivity, followed by pain, cracking, and fractures
• Root exposure, oral infections, and abscess formation
• Tooth loss requiring extraction, dentures, or expensive implants

The 2022 FDA Warning — What You Need to Know

In June 2022, the FDA took action that Indivior and Aquestive Therapeutics should have taken years earlier. The FDA:

• Required a class-wide warning about dental problems for all buprenorphine medicines that dissolve in the mouth
• Stated that "cases of severe dental problems have been reported" — including decay, cavities, fractures, infections, and tooth loss
• Confirmed that dental problems occurred even in patients who had no prior dental issues
• Required prescribers to counsel patients about dental risks
• Recommended patients rinse their mouth with water after each dose and schedule regular dental visits

Plaintiffs argue that this warning came years too late — and that Indivior had access to dental adverse event data from clinical trials long before the 2022 FDA action.

Who Is Being Sued?

The Suboxone dental injury litigation names multiple defendants:

• Indivior PLC and Indivior Inc. — the current manufacturer and marketer of Suboxone film, formerly part of Reckitt Benckiser
• Aquestive Therapeutics — the contract manufacturer that developed the sublingual film technology and manufactured Suboxone film

The core allegation is that these companies knew about the dental risks from pre-approval clinical trials and post-market adverse event reports, but chose not to adequately warn patients, dentists, or prescribers.

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