Mobile Dental Clinic Treats 'Mountain Dew Mouth' Eastern Kentucky

[RamboLiberal]

Dr. Edwin Smith, of Barbourville, Ky., is on a mission to save the teeth of Eastern Kentucky's children.

Four years ago, he invested $150,000 of his own money to build a mobile dental clinic, Kids First Dental Care, inside an 18-wheel truck.

Several days a week, he criss-crosses the curvy roads of 16 eastern Kentucky counties to offer free dental screenings and services to hundreds of students. Most children dread the dentist, but those who line up outside Smith's van are often giddy with anticipation. For many, it's the first and only dental check-up they'll have for years.

"It's a generational thing, I think," said Smith. "Grandma had dentures, mom had dentures, it's just inevitable that I'm going to end up with dentures, is the way some of these kids feel. I really believe we have to do a better job educating." Smith says he's seen firsthand the results of neglect among these children. Teenagers have pulled their own teeth with pliers because of tooth pain, and he's treated 2-year-olds with up to 12 cavities in their baby teeth.

It's a stereotype rooted in a terrible fact. Central Appalachia is No. 1 in the nation in toothlessness. According to dentists, one of the main culprits is Mountain Dew soda. With 50 percent more caffeine than Coke or Pepsi, Mountain Dew seems to be used as a kind of anti-depressant for children in the hills.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=6863173&page=1

20/20 is running a special tonight on the children of Appalachia.

[Kalyke]

1. I live in Appalachia, technically, but my area's not that bad off.

My son's 9 and never had a cavity.

Of course, he gets Mountain Dew maybe once a week and brushes two times a day (and flosses).

I think the problem here is that the water's dirty and Mountain Dew is more available than clean water.

[Raster]

4. Mt. Dew is also LOADED with caffeine and sugar...

it's like legal, liquid crack for kids. Didn't they use to feature a hillbilly on the label?

[TheMightyFavog]

9. At least it's only Mountain Dew.

Count your blessings that those kids haven't graduated to those energy drinks, particulalry those huge-ass 32 oz. cans of Monster Energy Drink.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

2. Mountain Freakin' Dew...

I used to live on that stuff back when I was in 10th grade in the Ozarks. We used to buy 12 packs of it at the IGA and drive up to the swimming hole past Booger Holler on Highway 7.

Ah 1991, good times...

[Jazzgirl]

14. Oh. My. God.

Booger Hollow and Ozark. I didn't know hardly anybody here would have ever heard of them, LOL!!!

[TwilightGardener]

3. When people don't have much money, the first thing to go is dental checkups.

I never saw a dentist as a kid, until I was 16 and had two abcessed molars. Couldn't afford root canals, so they were extracted. What a wonderful gift this man is giving these families.

[I Have A Dream]

5. This is wonderful. Kudos to him for doing this. nt

[paparush]

6. Idiocracy - Soon, we'll be watering the crops with Gatorade

//I'm a lifelong Appalachian resident

[uncle ray]

10. but it has electrolytes!

[backscatter712]

12. BRAWNDO: THE THIRST MUTILATOR!!! n/t

[leftyclimber]

7. Well water, lack of money for dentistry, lack of local dental clinics.

You can only try so hard for so long before you give up and accept things as they are. (WV resident here. :hi: )

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. But, it's still the greatest country in the world!

:sarcasm:

[iamthebandfanman]

11. there was a need for this BEFORE the last 8 years

being from kentucky, nothing hurts me more than a trip trough eastern kentucky...
exposed strip mine sites. nature being savagely harvested. then the people who have no choice but to work for those who do the savagery.

families in EKY have been suffering for a LONG long time.

everytime i see a commercial for helping children overseas i cant help but think of the kids who will go without food tonite or a reliable roof over their heads... IN MY OWN STATE!

ive tried contacting some christian organisations that help build homes and provide food for people in the region, but most of them wont take help for a week or on weekends. they want months on end commitment.

[get the red out]

13. Yes, it is horrible and sad

and the only thing that could help in any permanent way would be jobs. I grew up in a little town called Paintsville during better times in the coal industry in the 70s. My neighborhood was as middle class as you get, with my and most of my friends' families somehow employed in or around the coal industry (and back then my Dad's insurance covered our dental completely, so we have our teeth).

But when we would go out into the county to visit relatives the stark reality around us would show up. I remember a mountain that was bare from the mining that kept food on everyone's table. Now times are much worse. I don't know how a lot of people survive there now, and if you have no education or skills you can't get out and go look for work in other states.

It can be such a beautiful place, but has such misery. If there were some way to get more industry there things could get better. Despite the horrible press Appalachia gets, it is still a wonderful place to visit, the mountains are amazing in the summer and fall. And no, folks don't get shot on sight.