Georgia Suboxone Lawyer: Tooth Decay and Dental Injury Claims

This page is for people in Georgia who used brand-name Suboxone film as part of treatment for opioid use disorder and later faced broken teeth, decay along the gum line, root canals, extractions or dentures. Many people in this position took their medication exactly as prescribed and still watched their teeth break down. Asking whether the drug’s maker should answer for that is fair, and it says nothing bad about the treatment you chose.

We’re Fob & Foster Personal Injury Lawyers. Our office is in Birmingham, Alabama, attorney James Z. Foster is licensed in Georgia, and we review Suboxone claims from anywhere in the state by phone or video, from Atlanta and Marietta to Savannah, Augusta, Macon and Valdosta. We work alongside national co-counsel who are litigating the Suboxone cases in the federal MDL. Below is what the lawsuits claim, where the court case stands, how Georgia’s deadline works, and which records you can start pulling today.

What the Suboxone Film Lawsuits Claim

The Suboxone dental cases are product liability lawsuits against Indivior, the company behind brand-name Suboxone sublingual film. The cases also name Aquestive Therapeutics, which manufactures the film. The core allegation: Indivior knew or should have known the film could damage teeth, and it did not warn doctors or patients until the FDA announced in January 2022 that it was requiring dental warnings, which were added to the label in June 2022.

Plaintiffs argue that a prescriber who knew about the risk could have told patients to rinse after each dose, sent them for regular dental checkups, or discussed another form of buprenorphine. Those are allegations, not findings, and no jury has heard a Suboxone tooth decay case yet.

Which Claims Survived the Motion to Dismiss

On December 31, 2024, Judge Calabrese granted in part and denied in part the defendants’ motion to dismiss in an MDL case. He let a failure-to-warn claim against Indivior Inc. move forward, along with a “pre-approval” design-defect claim that the film should have been designed more safely before the FDA approved it in 2010. He held that a claim that the design should have been changed after approval is preempted by federal law. So much of the case turns on what Indivior knew about dental harm, when it knew it, and what it told prescribers.

How Suboxone Film Can Damage Teeth

Suboxone film combines buprenorphine and naloxone in a thin strip that dissolves under the tongue or against the inside of the cheek. The lawsuits allege the film is acidic, and while it dissolves it sits against the teeth and gums, dose after dose, for months or years. Buprenorphine is also linked to dry mouth. Saliva is the mouth’s main defense against acid and the bacteria that cause cavities, so less saliva plus repeated acid contact is hard on enamel.

The decay alleged in these cases tends to start at the gum line and can involve several teeth at once, often in people with no history of serious dental problems before the film. A tooth that decays at the gum line can break off near the root, which is why so many claims involve broken teeth and extractions rather than a single filling.

Why Some People Lose Teeth and Others Don’t

Not everyone who uses the film develops dental problems, and the defense will look hard at your dental history, other medications that dry the mouth, smoking, diet and gaps in dental care. That isn’t a reason to give up on a claim. It’s a reason to collect records showing what your teeth looked like before the film.

The FDA’s January 2022 Dental Warning

On January 12, 2022, the FDA issued a Drug Safety Communication about dental problems with buprenorphine medicines dissolved in the mouth, including tooth decay, cavities, oral infections and tooth loss, and required new warnings on the drugs’ labeling. The FDA did not tell anyone to stop treatment. Its advice was to keep taking the medicine and protect your teeth:

• After the film has completely dissolved, take a large sip of water, swish it gently around your teeth and gums, and swallow.
• Wait at least an hour before brushing your teeth.
• Tell your dentist that you take buprenorphine, and keep up with regular dental checkups.

Why the 2022 Date Cuts Both Ways

Brand-name Suboxone film had been on the market since 2010, so plaintiffs argue more than a decade passed without a dental warning reaching prescribers. For a Georgia reader, the date matters for another reason: the defense may argue that once the warning was public, a person whose teeth were failing should have connected the two. We cover that in the deadline section below.

Where MDL 3092 Stands in October 2026

Federal Suboxone film cases are consolidated in MDL 3092 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio before Judge J. Philip Calabrese. An MDL puts pretrial work (discovery, expert fights, depositions) in one courtroom, but each plaintiff keeps an individual case.

2,022 Filed Cases and a Larger Pool of Claimants

The JPML’s pending-dockets report for October 1, 2026 lists 2,022 actions pending in MDL 3092, compared with 1,827 on September 1. Many filed cases name more than one person. In its quarterly SEC report, Indivior said about 1,967 consolidated cases named about 26,307 plaintiffs as of July 24, 2026. That counts people rather than cases, so it isn’t directly comparable to the JPML figure.

The April 2026 Order on Schedule A Filings

On April 23, 2026, according to published reports, Judge Calabrese ordered claimants listed on abbreviated “Schedule A” filings to file individual cases or face dismissal. If you signed up with a firm or claims service a while back, ask whether an individual lawsuit was filed in your name and get the case number. A vague answer is a reason for a second opinion.

The Bellwether Schedule

Under the court’s bellwether order (Second Amended Case Management Order No. 15, March 27, 2026), cases are narrowed in stages: a 500-plaintiff records collection pool, then a core discovery pool of up to 50 cases, then a 15-case trial pool, then 4 bellwether cases picked for trial. Bellwether trials show both sides how juries react to the evidence and often shape settlement talks. They don’t guarantee a settlement.

Brand-Name Film, Generic Film and Tablets: Which Ones Count

These claims focus on brand-name Suboxone film made by Indivior. The FDA approved generic buprenorphine-naloxone films in June 2018, but the generic launch was blocked by a court order, and generic film didn’t become steadily available until February 2019. After that, many pharmacies filled film prescriptions with the generic, sometimes without the patient noticing. Indivior also launched its own authorized generic film, sold through Sandoz, in February 2019, so tell us if your fills were labeled generic. Your pharmacy’s fill history is the only reliable way to know which product you got in a given month.

Generic users are usually left out for a legal reason. Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in PLIVA, Inc. v. Mensing (2011), generic makers are generally shielded from failure-to-warn claims because federal law requires their labels to match the brand’s. Suboxone tablets and other tablet forms are also outside these film claims. If you moved between tablets, brand film and generic film over the years, that’s normal; we sort it out from the records.

Dental Injuries That Can Support a Georgia Suboxone Claim

The cases involve serious, documented dental harm. The injuries we ask about include:

• Tooth decay and cavities, especially on several teeth or along the gum line
• Teeth that cracked, chipped or broke off
• Root canals and crowns
• Extractions, from one or two teeth up to a full-mouth extraction
• Dental implants, bone grafts and bridges
• Partial or full dentures
• Oral infections and abscesses

A claim built around one small filling is hard to justify, and we’ll tell you straight if your injuries fall on the light side.

Do I Qualify for the Suboxone Lawsuit in Georgia?

When you call, we work through four questions:

1. Did you use brand-name Suboxone film? A pharmacy fill history or insurance claims record usually answers this.
2. Did your dental problems start, or get much worse, after you began the film? Older dental records and X-rays show the before and after.
3. Is the damage documented? Treatment notes, X-rays, extractions, crowns and treatment plans are the proof.
4. Is the claim inside Georgia’s deadline? That depends on when you learned, or should have learned, that the film may have caused the damage.

You don’t need a dentist’s letter blaming Suboxone, or finished dental work, before you call. If you used the film while living in another state, tell us; that can change which deadline applies.

Filing a Claim Without Putting Your Recovery at Risk

Buprenorphine treatment works for a great many people, and nothing about a lawsuit requires you to stop it. Please don’t stop, cut back or switch your medication because of a legal claim; that’s a medical decision for you and your prescriber. Your claim is about damage already done to your teeth.

These claims are aimed at the drug’s maker, not the doctor or clinic that treated you. We may ask for your prescriber’s records because they show what the company told doctors. That’s different from blaming your provider.

Medical Privacy for People in Treatment

Federal law gives records from many substance use disorder treatment programs extra confidentiality protection under 42 C.F.R. Part 2, so those records generally can be released only with your specific written consent or a court order. In product liability litigation, medical records are usually exchanged under protective orders that limit who sees them. A lawsuit isn’t invisible, though: the defense will see records tied to your claim. Before anything is filed, we go over what would be shared and what appears in the public court file.

Records That Prove a Georgia Suboxone Claim

A Suboxone case rests on proof that you used brand-name film and proof of what happened to your teeth. Your pharmacy can print a fill history, often the most useful page in the file.

Don’t worry if you can’t find everything. We request records on your behalf once you hire us.

Georgia’s Two-Year Deadline for Suboxone Tooth Decay Claims

Georgia generally gives an injured person two years to file a personal injury lawsuit, O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33. The clock generally starts when the injury happens. Georgia courts apply a discovery rule mainly to injuries that develop gradually from continued exposure, which is how dental decay from repeated film use is usually described. When that rule applies, the clock runs from when you knew, or reasonably should have known, about the injury and its likely cause. Whether it applies to you is a fact question, so plan around the earlier date.

The hard part: decay comes on slowly, and the FDA’s dental warning has been public since January 2022. Expect Indivior to argue that anyone whose dentist mentioned medication-related decay, or who saw the warning, knew enough to start the clock. If a dentist told you more than two years ago that your medication was wrecking your teeth, your deadline may have passed. If you only recently learned of the connection, you may have more time. It often comes down to what a dental note says on a specific date.

Please don’t try to work out your deadline on your own. Call (205) 407-6009 and we’ll go through the dates with you. Waiting for a settlement does not pause the clock.

Georgia’s Ten-Year Statute of Repose and Its Disease Exception

O.C.G.A. § 51-1-11(b)(2) generally bars strict liability claims more than ten years after the product’s first sale for use or consumption. Brand film has been sold since 2010, so early users ask whether repose cuts them off. For a medicine refilled month after month, which sale starts the ten years can be argued. And under § 51-1-11(c), the ten-year bar does not apply to negligence claims for injuries arising out of a disease or birth defect, or out of conduct showing a willful, reckless or wanton disregard for life or property, and a manufacturer keeps its duty to warn once it learns of a danger. Whether film-related decay counts as a “disease” there is for a court to decide. For most Georgians whose brand-film use ran into the last ten years, the two-year deadline is the one to watch.

Georgia Law That Shapes a Suboxone Claim

Strict Liability, Negligence and the Learned Intermediary Rule

Under O.C.G.A. § 51-1-11(b)(1), a manufacturer is strictly liable when a product it sold was not reasonably suited to its intended use and that condition caused injury; a drug sold without an adequate warning can qualify. Negligence claims can be brought too. Georgia also follows the learned intermediary doctrine: a drug maker’s duty to warn generally runs to the prescribing doctor. So the case asks what Indivior told prescribers about dental risk before 2022, and whether a proper warning would have changed what your doctor did or told you.

Comparative Fault Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33

If a jury finds you 50% or more responsible for your own injury, you recover nothing in Georgia. Below that line, your award is reduced by your percentage. The defense may point to missed dental visits or smoking. Our answer starts with the label: before 2022, it did not tell patients to rinse after each dose or wait an hour to brush.

Damages and Punitive Damages

Georgia does not cap compensatory damages: past and future dental costs, lost income, and the pain and embarrassment of losing teeth. In product liability cases, punitive damages are not limited by Georgia’s general $250,000 cap, but under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-5.1(e), 75% of any punitive award (less a proportional share of costs and fees) goes to the state treasury, and only one punitive award may be recovered in Georgia courts from a defendant for the same act or omission in a product case.

If the Person Who Used the Film Has Died

Dental claims rarely involve a death. Where a product injury does cause a death, O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2 lets the family recover the “full value of the life” of the person who died, generally within two years. If a family member with film-related dental damage has passed away, call us about what claims remain.

What Affects the Value of a Suboxone Dental Claim

There are no Suboxone dental settlements or verdicts yet, so nobody can responsibly quote you a number. These are the factors that tend to drive value:

• How much dental work you’ve had and still need. One crown and a full-mouth extraction are very different cases.
• Future care. Implants, bone grafts and dentures carry long-term costs.
• Pain, infection and time in the dental chair.
• Effect on daily life: trouble eating, changes in speech, and self-consciousness at work or in public.
• How long you used brand film, and how well the fills are documented.
• Your dental history before treatment. Clean earlier X-rays make causation easier to show.

If cost has kept you from getting dental work done, a written treatment plan from a dentist or oral surgeon is still evidence of your damages.

When Will the Suboxone Lawsuit Settle? A Straight Answer on Payout Dates

No settlement has been announced, so there is no payout date, and anyone who gives you one is guessing. Mass tort settlements sometimes come before the first trial, sometimes after early verdicts, and sometimes not at all. Meanwhile, Georgia’s two-year clock keeps running.

Working With a Georgia Suboxone Lawyer From Atlanta to Savannah

Attorney James Z. Foster is licensed in Georgia, and we handle Suboxone reviews by phone or video. Whether you’re in Atlanta, Athens, Alpharetta or Albany, we go through your dates and records and tell you whether a claim makes sense. If you searched for a Suboxone lawyer near me from Augusta or Columbus and landed here, that call is the place to start.

The federal cases are handled in MDL 3092 in Ohio, where our national co-counsel are litigating the cases. People also search for the “best law firm for a Suboxone lawsuit.” We’d rather give you questions to ask any firm, including us: Has an individual case been filed in my name? Who is co-counsel in the MDL? What is the fee, and who pays case costs?

What to Do This Week

1. Keep taking your medication as prescribed. Talk with your prescriber before any change.
2. Ask every pharmacy you’ve used for a printed fill history that shows product names and dates.
3. Request dental records and X-rays from your current dentist and any you saw before starting the film.
4. Write a short timeline: when you started film, any switch to generic or tablets, when dental problems began, and when you first heard the film could be the cause.
5. Get written treatment plans and estimates, and keep your dental bills.
6. If you signed up with another firm or claims service, ask for your case number.
7. Call us at (205) 407-6009 so we can check your Georgia deadline.

Suboxone Litigation Updates

October 20, 2026 – Status Conference Set for October 27

The next MDL 3092 status conference is scheduled for October 27, 2026. We’ll post what comes out of it here.

October 1, 2026 – JPML Reports 2,022 Pending Cases

The count rose 195 from 1,827 on September 1, the docket’s biggest monthly increase since September 2025.

July 13, 2026 – Core Discovery Depositions Begin

Under the court’s bellwether order, depositions in the core discovery pool run through January 15, 2027.

April 23, 2026 – Court Orders Schedule A Claimants to File Individual Cases

Claimants on abbreviated Schedule A filings were reportedly told to file individual lawsuits or face dismissal.

December 31, 2024 – Failure-to-Warn Claims Allowed to Proceed

The court let a failure-to-warn claim and a pre-approval design-defect claim proceed and held a post-approval design-change claim preempted.

January 12, 2022 – FDA Requires Dental Warnings

The FDA warned of tooth decay, cavities, oral infections and tooth loss with buprenorphine medicines dissolved in the mouth.

February 2019 – Generic Film Becomes Steadily Available

Generic films approved in June 2018 reached sustained availability after a court order had blocked the initial launch.

Talk to a Georgia Suboxone Lawyer Today

Fob & Foster Personal Injury Lawyers is based in Birmingham, Alabama, at 2226 1st Ave S, Suite 105. Attorney James Z. Foster is licensed in Georgia, and we work alongside national co-counsel litigating the Suboxone film cases in MDL 3092. We review claims across Georgia by phone or video.

The free review is one conversation. We’ll ask when you started brand-name film, what dental work you’ve had or need, and when you connected the two. Then we’ll tell you plainly whether your claim fits the current cases and how much time Georgia law likely leaves you. There’s no fee unless we recover for you.

Call (205) 407-6009 or toll-free (866) 837-1010, or send us your question online.

Related Practice Areas

• Suboxone Tooth Decay Lawsuit in Alabama
• Suboxone Tooth Decay Lawsuit in Tennessee
• Dupixent Lawsuit in Georgia
• Defective Product Claims