meth mouth
By CHARLES POPE, P-I WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON — By design, Congress deals with problems that are important, intractable and at times “disgusting.”
One was added to the list Thursday that is covered by all three — meth mouth, the gruesome consequence on oral health of methamphetamine addiction. Meth rots teeth. It turns them black and leads to enormously expensive dental care to repair the damage.
It has become a large enough — and expensive enough — problem that Congress has taken notice.
“It is disgusting, utterly disgusting to see a little kid’s teeth rotting out,” Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said at news conference Thursday, flanked by four huge pictures of gaping mouths with blackened, rotting teeth.
It is also expensive, which is why Baucus appeared with Washington Reps. Rick Larsen and Brian Baird to unveil legislation aimed at reducing meth use among youths and providing federal money to help cover the cost of dental care for prison inmates.
Larsen has written legislation that would provide federal money for an educational and prevention campaign about meth use as well as for research into the “interrelationships between addiction and oral health.”
“Meth is a chemical cocktail that literally rots away your teeth,” said Larsen, who is chairman of the House Meth Caucus. “We need to educate young people about what meth does to your body. We need to stop kids from doing meth the first time so they don’t become addicts.”
A second bill, offered by Baird, would provide federal grants to prisons hard hit by the cost of treating prisoners with meth mouth.
“Meth mouth destroys and disfigures people’s teeth and gums, can lead to a whole host of other illnesses and prevents their ability to find a job or develop social relations,” Baird said.
“This is particularly true in our nation’s correctional facilities, where the burden is placed on local, county and state prisons that are forced to divert funds to treat inmates suffering from meth mouth,” Baird said.
jay: mostly i think he likes saying ‘meth mouth’. i mean, it’s kinda fun. METH MOUTH!