Methamphetamine, Heroin Users Both Suffer from 'Meth Mouth'
"People assume they know what's going on with meth mouth, but I'm not sure that's the truth," coauthor Kevin Hursh, DDS, dental director at the San Francisco Native American Health Center and an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco, told Medscape Medical News.
Many people think that meth mouth is caused by the direct effects of the smoked drug on the abuser's teeth, he said. But when the researchers surveyed people who inject heroin and people who inject methamphetamine, they found rampant dental decay similar to what has been called meth mouth.
About a half of both groups reported brushing their teeth seldom, if ever, and no participants from either group took advantage of an offer of a free dentistry appointment.
The investigators conclude that a next step might include offering preventive measures such as chlorhexidine rinses or xylitol gum or the application of fluoride varnishes to injection drug abusers, regardless of the type of drugs. They suggest accomplishing this through outreach workers.Great idea, but they still see the dental decay as a complication, not the cause. Even though it is associated with ALL their adverse outcomes...
So close, and yet so far away.
