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1415 Broadway Denison
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1415 Broadway
Denison, Iowa 51442 1.800.362.3980
712.263.5615
Office Hours 8:00am - 5:00pm
Monday - Thursday
Emergency
1-800-362-3980
Emergency After Hours
(712) 263-6459 or
(712) 263-8685 |
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Rise in `meth mouth' a growing
concern for rural dentists
When children drop in for a dental checkup
or cleaning, Dr. Gail Redman usually ends the appointment with her
familiar reminder to brush and floss regularly. But she recently
added something new: "Whatever you do, don't do meth."
 The
unusual advice, rarely heard in a dentist's office, is the result of
Redman's seeing more and more cases of a disturbing dental decay
considered a telltale sign of methamphetamine abuse. The condition,
commonly known as "meth mouth," leaves users' teeth black-stained,
rotted and often unsalvageable. It can advance so rapidly that
patients even in their late teens and early 20s have required
full-mouth extractions.
"We see it a lot," said Redman. "It's because meth is so bad in this
area."
Almost unheard of in urban areas, meth mouth is a growing problem
for dentists working in the nation's rural stretches, where meth has
hit the hardest. Already rural social services and law enforcement
are dealing with the drug's fallout, from families torn apart by
addiction to the toxic home labs where meth is made.
Now, rural dentists say meth is changing their jobs too.
"There's never been a drug that's had such an extreme dental impact
as crystal meth," said Dr. Nancy Williams, a dental hygiene
professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in
Memphis, who lectures around the country on drug abuse.
The decay is striking, dentists say. The cavities appear black, much
darker than the discoloration found on the teeth of smokers or other
drug abusers. The damage is focused along the gum lines. Extracting
the brittle, broken teeth is often the only option.
"It looks like you told the person to stand up and took a
sledgehammer to their mouth, the destruction is so complete," said
Dr. Jeffrey Paskar, a Springfield, Mo., dentist who works in a
clinic and at the county jail.
Little is known about what causes meth mouth. Few academic studies
have been done. Many dentists, especially those in cities where
other drugs dominate, are not even aware of the problem. "There may
be a lot more of it seen than recognized," said Dr. William Goebel,
head of diagnostic specialties at Southern Illinois University
Edwardsville's School of Dental Medicine.
Several factors are believed to contribute to the condition. Meth
users tend to suffer from poor oral hygiene and seem to prefer
drinking sugary sodas while high. The drug also dries up saliva,
leaving the mouth without a natural defense against cavities. Some
dentists also blame the drug's corrosive ingredients.
The results are hard to miss.
"You can look at their teeth and tell, no doubt about it," said Matt
Fowler, an agent with a local drug task force.
"They smile and it's like, oh, my God," said Dr. James Russell, a
dentist in Ellington, Mo.
Russell estimates that at least 15 percent of the people he sees in
his dentist's chair suffer from meth mouth. When he worked briefly
at another clinic, he suspected that one in three of his patients
suffered from the condition.
Russell said he tries to bring up the subject indirectly, gauging a
patient's reaction when he says that meth use might cause a bad
interaction with the numbing agent. "If you question them enough
about it, they'll usually fess up to it," Russell said.
Redman said she started seeing the condition about five years ago,
but at the time had no idea that it was related to an illicit drug.
Then her assistants began pointing out which patients were using
meth, she said. Today, she easily recognizes the decay pattern. And
her hygienists will note in a patient's file, "Meth?"
While many dentists run into meth mouth on a regular basis, it is
the youngest patients who stand out.
Dr. John Sauer, a dentist in Cape Girardeau, Mo., said he once
diagnosed a teenager's drug problem through her teeth. The incident
occurred when he worked at a clinic in New Madrid, Mo. A 16-year-old
went from just one cavity to 18 cavities bunched along the gum line
a year-and-a-half later, Sauer said. "I went to the mom and I asked
her if she'd noticed anything unusual about her daughter," Sauer
recalled. The mother admitted to having trouble controlling her
daughter and later, in private, the teen admitted to using meth, he
said.
Carrie Gregory, a hygienist at Redman's clinic, saw a 14-year-old
patient last fall who she suspected of using meth after seeing his
teeth marred by multiple black cavities. Gregory said she decided to
talk to the boy's mother.
"I felt bad after that," Gregory said. "But I wouldn't be doing my
job if I hadn't."
The rise in meth-induced cavities also has resulted in dentists
tipping off their local police narcotics unit, despite federal
privacy laws that might prohibit such disclosures. "It's not
something prior to meth and meth mouth that we had to deal with,
that your informant may be a dentist," detective Jason Grellner
said.
Dental schools are beginning to add instruction about meth mouth to
the curriculum. At the University of Missouri at Kansas City School
of Dentistry, Dr. Chris Rice said he is developing a presentation
about meth mouth for this fall's first-year students.
A group of UMKC students recently spent a week at Redman's clinic,
where some saw their first cases of meth mouth.
"I haven't seen it in school, but I saw one yesterday," said Woody
Soonattarkul, a third-year student from Kennett, Mo. Another
student, Justin Labart, worked on the case of a woman in her 30s
whose lower canines appeared to be eaten away by meth-induced decay.
But even decades in practice don't dull the shock of seeing meth
mouth. Redman said she's constantly amazed that people would use a
drug that is so toxic. Russell said 26 years of working on teeth
didn't prepare him for this.
"To see the things we see," he said, "I would not have thought it
possible."
Information provided by
DPNA. |
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