Meth mouth is a serious dental condition caused by prolonged meth use. Signs include gum disease, mouth sores, and tooth discoloration, decay, and loss. Meth mouth also causes embarrassment and shame that can drive users deeper into addiction. It’s important for meth users and those who love them to recognize the causes and symptoms of meth mouth. The sooner you seek treatment for both addiction and dental issues, the more likely you are to recover both your health and your self-esteem.
What Is Meth?
Meth is shorthand for methamphetamine, a synthetic stimulant that affects the central nervous system. There is a legal form of meth approved to treat obesity and ADHD, but it is very seldomly prescribed. Illegal meth is usually made with pseudoephedrine, an ingredient commonly found in cold medicine. It also contains chemicals from common household products such as paint thinner, drain cleaner, nail polish remover, and fertilizer.
Overall Effects of Meth
Whether smoked, injected, snorted, or ingested by mouth, meth causes large amounts of dopamine to be released into the parts of the brain that control feelings of pleasure. This creates powerful cravings for the drug, making it highly addictive. Meth has many harmful side effects such as rapid or irregular heart rate, high blood pressure, loss of appetite, anxiety, aggression, and violent behavior. Long-term meth use can lead to serious health problems including brain damage, heart attacks, stroke, psychotic episodes, and an array of oral health problems commonly known as meth mouth.
What Is Meth Mouth?
Meth mouth is one of the most common and visible signs of long-term meth use and can develop after only a year of using meth. First, teeth appear stained. With continued use, teeth decay and ultimately fall out. Gums recede and become diseased, and sores appear on and around the lips. The more meth you use, the more likely you are to get meth mouth. People who smoke meth are much more likely to contract this incurable condition than people who snort or inject meth. This is partly because when you smoke meth, the harmful chemicals it contains come in direct contact with your lips, teeth, and gums. Unless caught and treated very early, the damage that meth causes to teeth and gums is irreversible.
The effects of meth mouth go beyond the physical symptoms. The visible damage done to a user’s mouth and face can create emotional and psychological repercussions such as shame, embarrassment, and low self-esteem. These feelings may cause meth users to isolate themselves from others, depriving them of the emotional support they need and preventing them from seeking treatment.
Meth Mouth Symptoms: Dry Mouth
Saliva is extremely important to oral health. It creates a buffer against acidic substances in the food we eat and drinks we consume. Saliva also contains enzymes that maintain the pH balance in your mouth which is essential in protecting teeth and gums from bacteria. The average person produces about a liter of saliva every day.
Meth dries out your salivary glands and reduces the amount of saliva in your mouth. Also, while high, meth users tend to pass out and breathe through their mouths which causes oral tissue to dry out. Both of these issues keep salivary glands from producing enough saliva, which increases the number of bacteria in the mouth. A reduction in saliva also means a reduction in its buffering effect, so the acid content in food and beverages will begin to erode the enamel on your teeth. This erosion leads to gum disease and cavities.
Meth Mouth Symptoms: Tooth Decay
While high, meth users experience a greatly reduced appetite. But once the high wears off, they often experience a rebound in appetite that makes them crave calorie-dense foods such as candy. Dry mouth caused by meth use also causes users to have intense cravings for sugary drinks such as soda. A diet high in sugary foods and beverages creates an ideal atmosphere for the bacteria which feed on sugars present in the mouth. These bacteria secrete acid which eats away at tooth enamel and causes tooth decay. Teeth can be eroded down to blackened nubs.
Meth Mouth Symptoms: Cracked and Loose Teeth
Using meth often brings on feelings of anxiety or nervousness. This causes users to grind or clench their teeth. Repeated clenching and grinding can cause the enamel on your teeth to thin and wear away. Tooth enamel can’t be replaced, so thinning enamel can lead to teeth that are easily cracked. It’s not uncommon for meth users to crack a tooth when eating even soft foods such as mashed potatoes or ice cream. Grinding and clinching can also cause teeth to become loose and fall out.
Meth Mouth Symptoms: Gum Disease
To be healthy, your gums need sufficient blood flow. Methamphetamine use causes the blood vessels that supply blood to your teeth and gums to become narrowed. Repeated meth use causes permanent damage to these blood vessels. This results in reduced blood flow that causes oral tissue to break down and die.
Meth Mouth Symptoms: Mouth Sores
Meth use causes sores all over the body, including on your face. Sores caused by meth mouth appear on the delicate skin on lips and around the mouth. They often look like cold sores but are caused by poor dental hygiene, dry mouth, and poor diet. Snorting meth can cause sores in the throat and back of the mouth. Meth smokers are at particular risk of mouth sores caused by pipe burns. Meth users often make these sores worse by scratching or picking at them. This keeps sores from healing and often causes them to become infected, leading to scabs and permanent scarring.
Meth Mouth Symptoms: Shame and Isolation
Like it or not, some people make judgements about others based solely on appearance. Meth users may feel like the visible signs of meth mouth put their personal struggles on public display, causing them to avoid interactions with others. This isolation can compound mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, leading to delays in seeking and receiving care and support.
Meth Mouth Contributing Factors: Poor Diet
The body needs good nutrition in order to recover from injury and illness. Because addicts rarely eat a balanced diet, they often lack the nutrients such as Vitamin C, zinc, and iron the body needs to heal wounds and maintain immune system function. This means that when meth mouth sores appear, they tend to linger because the body can’t heal them as it normally would.
Meth Mouth Contributing Factors: Neglecting Dental Care
When someone becomes addicted to meth, good dental hygiene is rarely at the top of their list of priorities. Addicts are focused on getting and using meth, causing them to neglect good dental habits like brushing and flossing. They rarely receive regular dental care that could address the symptoms and some of the causes of meth mouth. When users go for extended periods of time without taking care of their oral health, the symptoms of meth mouth only get worse.
Meth Mouth Contributing Factors: Drug Ingredients Are Bad for Teeth
The household products used to make meth contain chemicals that are extremely harmful to your teeth and gums. Nail polish remover and paint thinner contain acetone. Fertilizer and kitchen cleaners contain ammonia. Drain cleaner contains sulfuric acid. These are just a few examples of the toxic chemicals found in meth that erode tooth enamel and harm the soft tissues in your mouth.
Stages of Meth Mouth
Meth mouth develops in stages, over time. Users with Stage One meth mouth may notice bad breath, red or swollen gum tissue, and developing cavities. Stage Two brings mouth sores, an increasing number of cavities, and receding gum tissue. In Stage Three, teeth appear black and tooth decay is visible down to the gum line. By this stage, users often have visibly discolored, damaged, or missing teeth.
Is Meth Mouth Treatable?
If you haven’t been using meth for very long and are just noticing the symptoms of meth mouth, you might be able to reverse your symptoms by quitting meth and adopting good oral hygiene habits like brushing and flossing. But unless caught very early, the damage that meth does to teeth and gums is irreversible. A dentist can walk you through available treatment options, such as artificial replacement teeth, that can correct some of the damage caused by meth mouth.
Meth affects the body in many harmful ways – meth mouth is just the most visible. The best thing you can do to improve your dental health as well as your overall heath is to seek professional help. Because meth is so highly addictive, users need supervised medical detox before beginning a treatment program. At Brentwood Springs Detox, our caring, experienced staff provides safe and effective treatment for meth addiction in a comfortable, supportive environment. You don’t have to face this alone. We’re here to help you quit using and start healing. Contact us today.