FACTORS INFLUENCING THE USE OF METHAMPHETAMINE BY DENTAL PATIENTS
IN THE UNITED STATES
that methamphetamine users had higher decayed,
missing, and filled teeth (DMFT), and that the
duration of use significantly increased this score. 50
Recent analysis of this demographic corroborates
this finding, and adds to the current knowledge
base by establishing that methamphetamine users
were twice as likely to have untreated caries as a
control group (non-users), and four times as likely
to have “caries experience”. The data published
by this group also found, counter to the popular
perception that smoking methamphetamine causes
the most severe manifestations of “meth mouth”,
that injection users of MA had significantly higher
rates of tooth decay compared with noninjectors. 51
Periodontal disease was also found to be “unusually
high” among meth users. “Whereas 37% of adults
aged 35 to 49 years in the US general population
have total periodontitis, more than 89% of the MA
Author contributions
Equal contribution to the paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors declare no conflict of interest related to
this study. There are no conflicts of interest and no
financial interests to be disclosed.
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