methamphetamine (meth) is highly addictive and its allure is that, it takes users on a psychedelic adventure promising an unmatched euphoria. This of course always come with a price, mutilation of its users’ teeth.
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methamphetamine (meth) is highly addictive and its allure is that, it takes users on a psychedelic adventure promising an unmatched euphoria. This of course always come with a price, mutilation of its users’ teeth.
Meth contains ingredients such as battery acid, antifreeze, drain cleaner, and lantern fluid all of which destroy the body and corrode the mouth. Meth also dries out the salivary glands, which allows the mouth to be able to produce more bacteria, rotting the teeth and leading to gum decay. One of the first problems of meth use is the negative effect it has on your dental health. Smoking meth causes damaging problems to your teeth and causes something known as “meth mouth”. It is characterized by severe tooth decay, gum disease, and poor dental health. This causes teeth to break and/or fall out. Those addicted to methamphetamines have often had teeth that are blackened, stained, crumbling, and rotting. The signs of meth mouth include the following:
Dry mouth
Cracked, loose, or missing teeth
Gum disease, gingivitis, and periodontitis
Lockjaw
Micro cavities
Teeth grinding and clenching
Black and rotting teeth
Bad breath
Meth mouth is the tooth decay and poor dental health that typically occur when someone is addicted to meth. Meth mouth has been regarded a “dentist’s worst nightmare” and is the result of a combination of acidic tooth decay and drug-induced physical changes that occur with meth use. Meth mouth is often one of the most apparent physical changes that occur when someone abuses meth, alongside changing facial features and skin damage from shooting meth. After just a few sessions of smoking meth, a user’s teeth will begin to stain a dark yellow. As a meth addiction develops, this discoloration will worsen, and eventually the protective enamel of the teeth will begin to flake or chip away. Once the enamel is gone, teeth are left vulnerable to acidic chemical traces in the clouds of meth smoke that users inhale, and it is these acidic traces that ultimately do most of the damage. Soon, teeth that were previously stained yellow will begin to turn brown and black. Saliva gland function will be compromised by the presence of meth’s toxic byproducts, reducing their capacity to produce moisture that helps cleanse teeth and protect them from decay. The development of meth mouth eventually reaches a point of no return. Corroded and desecrated beyond repair, the teeth will decay all the way to the gum line, leaving useless deformed stumps where there used to be healthy, normal white teeth. Gum disease is another result of meth addiction, and with gums no longer healthy enough to support teeth, some will break or fall out. Teeth, of course, don’t grow back, and they can’t be restored once meth mouth progresses too far.