Wow, meth does a job on your teeth.

[Pepsi90919]

http://www.mappsd.org/Meth%20Mouth.htm

Lithium, muriatic and sulfuric acids, ether, red phosphorus and lye - key ingredients in Meth manufacturing - are all corrosive and will cause skin burns even when used properly. When a person smokes Meth, these substances are heated, vaporized and swirl throughout the user's mouth. They irritate and burn the sensitive skin inside the mouth, create sores and lead to infection. Chronic Meth smokers have teeth rotted to the gum line from the continuous affect of the vapors on tooth enamel.

Snorting Meth also causes chemical damage to teeth. Snorting draws the caustic substances down the nasal passages, draining in the back of the throat and bathing the teeth with corrosive substances.

Injecting Meth has no direct impact on dental health, but as you will see, habitual use of the drug does have side effects that do lead to damage.

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: Amused
I watched the show and I was not convinced that lifestyle rather than the drug itself caused the rapid destruction of the teeth.

Look, many hard core potheads have constant dry mouth, munch carb loaded foods like fiends and have poor oral hygiene and do not see total destruction of their teeth in 3-4 years. Coke heads grind their teeth just as much as meth heads, and they do not see the same destruction. The destruction is just WAY too rapid to not be connected to the meth in some way.

A meth free teen can go 4 solid years with NEVER brushing and NEVER see that kind of total destruction of their teeth. Many native tribes had/have no oral hygiene at all and tooth loss doesn't start until their late 20s, or early 30s.

Meth must cause the destruction either through chemical changes in the saliva, or lack of blood flow to the teeth, or both.

Don't know how true this statement is:
"Meth is made from hydrochloric acid. When users smoke meth, the acid in the drug erodes their tooth enamel. The drug also leaves users dehydrated and craving sweets. Add up a loss of tooth enamel, a constant sweet tooth and a disregard for brushing, and you end up with teeth that are little more than little black stubs -- a condition known as "meth mouth.""


Anyone familiar with the chemistry care to comment?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
http://www.mappsd.org/Meth%20Mouth.htm

Lithium, muriatic and sulfuric acids, ether, red phosphorus and lye - key ingredients in Meth manufacturing - are all corrosive and will cause skin burns even when used properly. When a person smokes Meth, these substances are heated, vaporized and swirl throughout the user's mouth. They irritate and burn the sensitive skin inside the mouth, create sores and lead to infection. Chronic Meth smokers have teeth rotted to the gum line from the continuous affect of the vapors on tooth enamel.

Snorting Meth also causes chemical damage to teeth. Snorting draws the caustic substances down the nasal passages, draining in the back of the throat and bathing the teeth with corrosive substances.

Injecting Meth has no direct impact on dental health, but as you will see, habitual use of the drug does have side effects that do lead to damage.

The problem with that is the fact that IV users of Meth see much the same devastation of the teeth. It takes a little longer, but their teeth are destroyed as well.

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
http://www.mappsd.org/Meth%20Mouth.htm

Lithium, muriatic and sulfuric acids, ether, red phosphorus and lye - key ingredients in Meth manufacturing - are all corrosive and will cause skin burns even when used properly. When a person smokes Meth, these substances are heated, vaporized and swirl throughout the user's mouth. They irritate and burn the sensitive skin inside the mouth, create sores and lead to infection. Chronic Meth smokers have teeth rotted to the gum line from the continuous affect of the vapors on tooth enamel.

Snorting Meth also causes chemical damage to teeth. Snorting draws the caustic substances down the nasal passages, draining in the back of the throat and bathing the teeth with corrosive substances.

Injecting Meth has no direct impact on dental health, but as you will see, habitual use of the drug does have side effects that do lead to damage.

The problem with that is the fact that IV users of Meth see much the same devastation of the teeth. It takes a little longer, but their teeth are destroyed as well.

An article at slate

The contaminant angle is complete misinformation. Dr. John R. Richards M.D., who studied tooth damage among 49 users in the late 1990s and co-wrote a paper on his finding for the August 2000 issue of the Journal of Periodontology, says users could consume pharmaceutical-grade methamphetamine and still lose their teeth.

The paper, titled "Patterns of Tooth Wear Associated With Methamphetamine Use," recorded the most dramatic tooth wear among methamphetamine users who preferred snorting meth over other means of administration. Frequent snorting of the drug inhibits blood flow to the arteries that service the top front teeth, the authors found, which weakens them. Also, most of study's subjects smoked tobacco, and the connection between smoking and bad teeth is well-known.

"Not all that much tooth damage could be caused in the short time methamphetamine is in your mouth," Richards says. He adds that upper teeth are more prone to drying than lower teeth. When meth users binge and pass out, they may sleep for a day or longer with their mouths open, further drying their uppers.

Richards calls neglect of basic hygiene the biggest cause of dental damage among users. "It's a lifestyle issue," he says.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: djheater

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
http://www.mappsd.org/Meth%20Mouth.htm

Lithium, muriatic and sulfuric acids, ether, red phosphorus and lye - key ingredients in Meth manufacturing - are all corrosive and will cause skin burns even when used properly. When a person smokes Meth, these substances are heated, vaporized and swirl throughout the user's mouth. They irritate and burn the sensitive skin inside the mouth, create sores and lead to infection. Chronic Meth smokers have teeth rotted to the gum line from the continuous affect of the vapors on tooth enamel.

Snorting Meth also causes chemical damage to teeth. Snorting draws the caustic substances down the nasal passages, draining in the back of the throat and bathing the teeth with corrosive substances.

Injecting Meth has no direct impact on dental health, but as you will see, habitual use of the drug does have side effects that do lead to damage.

The problem with that is the fact that IV users of Meth see much the same devastation of the teeth. It takes a little longer, but their teeth are destroyed as well.

An article at slate

The contaminant angle is complete misinformation. Dr. John R. Richards M.D., who studied tooth damage among 49 users in the late 1990s and co-wrote a paper on his finding for the August 2000 issue of the Journal of Periodontology, says users could consume pharmaceutical-grade methamphetamine and still lose their teeth.

The paper, titled "Patterns of Tooth Wear Associated With Methamphetamine Use," recorded the most dramatic tooth wear among methamphetamine users who preferred snorting meth over other means of administration. Frequent snorting of the drug inhibits blood flow to the arteries that service the top front teeth, the authors found, which weakens them. Also, most of study's subjects smoked tobacco, and the connection between smoking and bad teeth is well-known.

"Not all that much tooth damage could be caused in the short time methamphetamine is in your mouth," Richards says. He adds that upper teeth are more prone to drying than lower teeth. When meth users binge and pass out, they may sleep for a day or longer with their mouths open, further drying their uppers.

Richards calls neglect of basic hygiene the biggest cause of dental damage among users. "It's a lifestyle issue," he says.

Like I said, I just don't buy it. The destruction is WAY too fast in people who are WAY too young. I'm not saying contaminants do it. But I'm saying the meth itself does it.

Again, primitive tribes had/have NO oral hygiene and don't see this kind of total destruction so early in life. The same with addicts of other kinds of drugs.

This is unique to meth.