Meth Addiction Leading to Rotting Teeth

[Conservativesux]

Meth Addiction Leading to Rotting Teeth

February 06, 2005 12:10 PM EST

MARYVILLE, Mo. - The growing use of highly addictive methamphetamine throughout the country is creating a prominent scar on an increasing number of users - rotting, brittle teeth that seem to crumble from their mouths.

Methamphetamine can be made with a horrid mix of substances, including over-the-counter cold medicine, fertilizer, battery acid and hydrogen peroxide. Together, the chemicals reduce a user's saliva, which neutralizes acids and physically clears food from the teeth, said Dr. Eric Curtis, an Arizona-based spokesman for the Academy of General Dentistry.

"When the saliva isn't flowing, the bacteria build up a lot faster," said Dr. Darrell Morton, an Atlanta dentist.

Jeffery Lotshaw flossed regularly. He brushed faithfully, sometimes four or five times in a day.

All that care makes his condition seem incomprehensible - at the age of just 33, Lotshaw's grin is toothless. His teeth all broke apart, tarnished with yellow and black.

"Before I started doing meth, I didn't have a cavity in my head," said Lotshaw, imprisoned on drug charges at Missouri's Maryville Treatment Center.

More at:
http://enews.earthlink.net/article/hea?guid=20050206/4205a450_3ca6_1552620050206-427334194

[VegasWolf]

1. More bad news for pickup truck driving Republicans with mohawks!n/t

[AuntiBush]

9. Hysterical!

I needed a good laugh. Thanks VegasWolf. You see, my mother spent the weekend with me, if you get my gist. I'm still in shock, but at least I have all of my teeth, and no republicans around. Shew. I made it though.

[vpigrad]

2. Ahhh, now I understand more why cops...

react the way they do towards me. Not a one told me why.

[AlienGirl]

15. I hope they don't look at me like that

I lost my salivary glands to radiation. The last thing I need is people assuming I'm a methhead!

Tucker

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. It's a dead giveaway

I teach in a heavy meth lab neighborhood and we can tell which parents are meth heads by the shape of their teeth.

[LoZoccolo]

4. Check out Penny Wood.

http://www.crackcocaineincamden.co.uk/pages/drugs/what%20crack%20can%20do%20for%20you/the%20results%20of%20meth.htm

I think we might see what they're talking about when they describe "meth mouth".

[flaminbats]

13. I love it, click here if you're a methhead!!

http://www.crackcocaineincamden.co.uk/pages/advice/drugs%20advice%20in%20camden.htm

[Califooyah Operative]

5. uh yea...

look at a someone on meth. There teeth are fucked, not only from the chemicals but from teeth rubbing together.

[blonndee]

6. Old news for me. My best friend was a speed freak for quite a while and

her dealers looked just about like that Penny. I was on it too for a while till I realized I had lost 30 lbs in 3 months and picked my skin so much it looked like chicken pox. Meth is freakin scary. Who knows what the hell's going up your nose or in your arm?

[madrchsod]

7. duhhhhh.......this is news?

i knew that back in the 60`s that meth did this to your body.some people just don`t know shit.

[depakid]

8. Back then they were called speed freaks

and you could recognize them the same way.

However, there weren't nearly so many back in the 60's and 70's compared with today. The proliferation on smokable crystal meth really has become am epidemic- and I'm not one to use that term lightly.

[NVMojo]

10. is this what being "a crackhead" means??

[shanti]

11. no, it's crankster

a crackhead smokes crack. crank (speed, meth) and crack (cocaine) are two different things.

[NVMojo]

12. thanks, I really didn't know for sure cuz I hear people use the term

"crackhead" so much and I know meth is all around this rural town ...

[TygrBright]

14. Does Anyone Else Instanty Think of...

...the "before" pics on Norm the Weasel's dentist's web site?

Izzere something the voters of Minnesota should know, Weasel-boy?

suspiciously,
Bright