Meth mouth is unlike any other drug, candy or vice in most dentists' memories. In short stretches of time, sometimes just months, a perfectly healthy set of teeth can turn a grayish-brown, twist and begin to fall out, and take on a peculiar texture less like that of hard enamel and more like a piece of over ripe fruit. The condition, known to some as "meth mouth," has been studied little in academic circles and is unknown to many urban and suburban dentists, whose patients are increasingly focused on cosmetic issues, the bleaching and perfect veneers of television's makeover shows. But other dentists, especially those in the open, empty swaths of land where methamphetamine is being manufactured in homemade laboratories, say they are seeing a growing number of such cases.
