A patient going on vacation always takes diazepam before his dental cleaning, and now also asks for a valium prescription 'just in case of emergency' while traveling. What should you do?

Continuing the patient's already-established, clinically justified pre-treatment anxiolytic dose for today's actual dental appointment is reasonable and consistent with prior practice. However, providing an additional, unsupervised supply of a controlled substance for hypothetical future 'in case of emergency' use (unrelated to a specific, monitored dental appointment) raises real controlled-substance stewardship and diversion concerns, and should not be granted without a clear, separate medical indication and appropriate prescriber relationship.