Screening for Addiction

When screening a patient for drug abuse, the oral health care professional should take a nonjudgmental approach and:

• Ask specific, factual questions that do not permit yes and no answers.
• Be persistent: if answers are vague, reword the question or say "I don't understand."
• When patients are antagonistic or evasive, recognize this behavior as part of their denial mechanism.
• Be sympathetic, letting the patient talk about the reactions of their family and friends to their use of drugs.
• Don't accept qualified answers. If the response is "hardly at all," ask how often that means.
• If users seem to be holding back information, contact family members for additional information about the extent of drug use.

End the interview on a less threatening topic so the patient will be comfortable in future discussions.