Methy Grill

I'm gonna revisit one of my old posts, Crystal Steph. I know I previously mentioned that crystal meth has such a cool name, but after working on a few patients that are (former?) meth users I'd like to tell my faithful readers to stay clean.

A few weeks ago I assisted another student with a patient. After talking for some time, the patient told me how he used to be heavy into drugs, including crystal meth as his DOC. Even after being clean for a few years, there were still signs of meth mouth and a lengthy list of restorations needing to be placed. I felt bad for the guy, even at the rates the school charges (about 1/10th of the rates in private practices) this guy will still be spending a fortune on teeth that have an uncertain prognosis.

Recently, I was examing one of my patients and found similar decay. He's younger than I am, admits to good oral hygiene (which I believe after the exam), and is a smoker. I didn't ask much about his social habits though. I'll be treating his extensive needs for the next two years and will eventually have to bluntly ask 'are you on crank?' I just didn't think it would be appropriate during the first appointment. It's a shame, because even with good homecare this kid could be edentulous before the next World Cup.

Anyway, I have to agree with Jodie Sweetin on this- meth ain't cool.