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Watch What You Put In Your Mouth

We have all heard the saying “recommended by 4 out of 5 dentists’ when a particular dental product is being advertised.

It goes without saying that 4 out of 5 dentists also would not recommend subjecting ones teeth to lithium, sulfuric acid, ether or other poisons. In fact, it is surprising that anyone would even think of doing something like that to their teeth, but that is what meth users do, every time they snort or smoke methamphetamine.

Anatomy Of Teeth

We might not think about our teeth much or if we do, think their main purpose is the have a nice smile. Teeth are those things that you put veneers on so as to look like movie stars.

However, teeth are much more than that and have an important function – to chew our food so it can be digested. Mother nature designed them perfectly for this function.

Teeth are tough – in fact they are toughest and most enduring feature of man. They are made of four different kinds of tissue – pulp, connective tissues, dentin (which is a hard yellow material and makes them tough) enamel to protect them from bacteria and cementum, which keeps the tooth in place below the gum line.

Losing teeth or not being able to chew with them can contribute to digestive problems or mal nourishment if someone is avoiding certain foods because they can’t chew them.

Severe tooth infections can travel through the body and according to research, possibly contribute to heart disease. In fact, these studies find that people with gum disease are at higher risk for heart attacks. Researchers have not discovered exactly why this is so, but the evidence is mounting that gum disease is more of a risk for heart attack than smoking, age or cholesterol.

So our teeth are pretty important for overall health and meth can really mess them up.

Effects Of Meth On Teeth

Let’s take a look at when a person smokes meth. They are inhaling heated and vaporized chemicals which stay in the mouth for a long enough period to create sores and infection in the mouth. After a long enough period of time the chemicals can make the entire tooth rotten.

Snorting meth also exposes the teeth to chemicals – they visit the oral cavity on their way to the mouth. Either method destroys teeth.

There are other reasons that meth abusers start to lose their teeth;

When a person stays up for days at a time, tweaking (getting severely involved in different tasks or thoughts, becoming paranoid, chasing a high and other things people do when they have been up for days) they are less likely to remember to brush their teeth. Days blend together –day into night and daily routines and hygiene habits take a back seat to a tweaker’s priorities.

Meth dries out the mouth by directly effecting the amount of saliva produced. Saliva protects tooth enamel from acid and substances like medication that can destroy it. In a dry mouth, these substances can wear at the enamel and cavities can more easily form. Also, a mouth without salvia is a breeding ground for bacteria, which is also damaging to teeth.

The problem of bacteria is exacerbated because meth users attempt to handle their dry mouth (from the decrease in saliva) with sugary drinks. Bacteria thrive on the sugar.

Decay starts at the gum and spreads to the whole tooth in this way.

Meth causes decreased blood flow by causing the vessels to shrink. Enough shrinkage and there is less blood to bring the proper nourishment to the tissues – hence more tooth damage.

Meth users are hyped up and nervous. This leads to teeth grinding – sometimes so severe as to cause cracked teeth.

Meth mouth can appear just months after a person becomes a dedicated meth user. The teeth start to look brown, have holes and fall out. There are some parts of the country where pockets of thin people with bad teeth can be detected. The jaws can appear so caved in, that one wonders how a dentist would even be able to have room to do anything.

Meth And The Dentist

Unfortunately, there isn’t any remedy except to pull the teeth and insert implants – an expensive proposition for anyone, especially those who have been spending all their money on drugs and have devoted their time to tweaking rather than working.

Meth mouth is not something that most dentists learned about in school and in the beginning of the era of meth mouth, most information was gathered by dentists conferring with each other about the new malady that was hitting their offices.

Dentists are not required to keep any statistics on how many cases of meth mouth they see. The actual statistics have likely been on the increase commensurate with rise of methamphetamine abuse to a level that is now described as an epidemic in this country. In 2005 the Drug Enforcement Administration estimated that more than 12.3 million Americans age 12 and older had tried methamphetamine and many have become addicted. Chances are, there are lots of meth mouth cases.

The first thing someone on methamphetamine has to face is how to get off the drug.

It can be rough as it is very addictive and addicts get to the point where they need their meth just to function. The symptoms are primarily psychological, but can include physical symptoms as well. Withdrawal symptoms include lethargy, anxiety, depression or sleeplessness. Cravings can be intense and last for days or weeks. This is because the body has gotten used to having the drug. The person develops a tolerance for the drug and requires more and more. Some people choose to not go through the process of withdrawal.

Life is sometimes tough to return to as a person is trying to get clean. Having horrible teeth can only add to the depression.

When a family is considering helping a meth user with their dental work, it is wise to ensure that the person is indeed ready to quit. The dental repair needed in many cases is quite expensive. It can also be a good incentive for families to use to get someone to quit.

There are many reasons for an addict to stop using methamphetamine and the actions of tweakers may take attention off of this one. For more information contact Narconon.