"If we aren't gaining any ground, isn't it time to revise our strategy?" Don't give up, though. It's a thing, reports the Salt blog at NPR, and public health advocates in West Virginia and throughout Appalachia say the damage is real and widespread. no food stuff is more personal to me, more deeply burrowed into my sense of identity than Diet Mountain Dew. Appalachian: [noun] a native or resident of the Appalachian mountain area. The lights, claim the legend, are the ghosts of grieving women still searching the mountainside for the bodies of fallen warriors. However, this poses a significant problem because, in the eyes of the American health care system, the mouth is separate from the rest of the body. Picking on Diet Mountain Dew was a surefire way to get my attention and cut me to the quick. Cherokee Indians were the main Native American group of the Southern Appalachian and Blue Ridge region, but there were also Iroquois, Powhatan, and Shawnee people.. Something went wrong. Medicaid, the joint federal-state health care program that provides health coverage for 72 million people, reckons dental benefits as optional for adults, leaving it up to states to decide. The idea we want to get across is that we have confidence in them. She recounts the story of one very timid young woman who showed up for the group. Its poor and thats probably being kind, Ebersole said in an interview last month in Lexington, but I cant say it's that much worse than a lot of the nation. For example, many Appalachian names are of Gaelic or Celtic origin (if you are interested in Irish baby names check out our Irish boy's names and Irish girls names posts). People are held personally accountable for the state of their teeth in ways that they are not held accountable for many other health conditions.". MS. Anne and Harry M. Caudill Collection, 1854-1996, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington, Kentucky. It is "not good" in a decidedly unsexy way, the way other corporate Frankenstein creations like Ho-Hos and Combos are easily tossed into the furnace of public scorn. With 26 percent of preschool-age kids suffering from tooth decay and 15 percent of young adults extracting a tooth because of erosion, Mountain Dew-mouth in Appalachia has created one of the worst dental health problems in the United States according to alegal brief by Priscilla Harris, an associate professor at the Appalachian College of Law. As it happened, out one of the cases he was trying was a moonshiner who was reputed to make . Like many Americans without dental insurance, it was not until Matello heard a free dental clinic would be held in the town of Salisbury, just 20 minutes away from her home, that fixing the cracked tooth seemed like a possibility. To get a sense of what that looks like, check out this picture. Its just especially galling to see it done by someone claiming insider status. Today, coal has left Appalachia, as have a host of other industries that brought economic opportunity. As the wealth gap continues to increase, teeth represent the dividing line between the classes. It was not a novelty, not an ironic goofjust simply a way of life. Here she races at Crossville Raceway in Cumberland County, Tennessee. Like those many before him including many news stories last year Vance has just written yet another look at these poor people story. For me, this photograph is valuable because it shows us how little we actually know when viewing this image, any image. Weeks later, he reported finding syringes in the street. Harry Caudill, Whitesburg Position Statement. Proc. He came to believe that Appalachias gene pool had been watered down by inbreeding among what he called dullards who lived on welfare in remote mountain hollers (1). On Friday afternoons he would buy several 30 packs of beer, chicken for the barbecue and many cartons of cigarettes. The man, who proclaimed that Appalachia had been raped, now wanted to rape certain Appalachian people of their ability to procreate. In the mountains, you cant look away because theres nowhere to turn a blind eye. The Appalachian Mountains hold some truly terrifying stories.Podcast Episode #308.Download Swamp Dweller Scary Stories:Itunes: https://apple.co/2L7znZpSpotif. In the mountains, you dont look away because you remember when the heroin dealer was a second string quarterback. Dozer had collected several people along the way so by the end of the ride, there were 4 of us on the ATV. First there are the most ancient crystalline rocks. Old woman smoking a pipe, Appalachia, USA, c1917. Use of thesesubstances is rampant in Appalachia; a single Kentucky county filled prescriptions for over 2 million doses of painkillers last year, which is about 150 doses for every man, woman and child. His experience is valid, but its not everyones experience. He had downed 4 more beers since we left Pats house, so thats 24 beers. Agastya. As Healthline tells us, the sugar in sodas reacts with the bacteria in our mouths to form a dangerous acid, breaking down the protective layers in your teeth and causing cavities. Beer, grilled chicken and cigarettes were offered in unlimited supply. It is not part of hillbilly justice. If his family were acting like violent jerks, its because theyre acting like jerks, not because theyre Appalachian. On top of that, without municipal water systems, people rely on well water, which is unfluoridated or they drink more Mountain Dew to quench their thirst. We told them dont put Mountain Dew in a baby bottle, dont put that baby to sleep with juice, dont let people kiss that baby, to prevent bacteria being transferred, Almon said. Back in 2009, Priscilla Harris, an associate professor at the Appalachian College of Law, issued the first battle cry in the war against Mountain Dew mouth with a legal brief titled "Undoing the . Very well said indeed.Vance knows nothing at all about Appalachian or Scots Irish culture.His experience is that of any disassociated urban ethnic group filtered and bankrupted by a corrupt academic system that values social promotion.The disrespect of women and moral ambiguity on display in his poorly written value bin book is disgusting,and was promoted in exactly the same Big East / NYC fashion as the recently deceased corporate coaching group NXIVM. Reply . More recently, whats driven home the jerry-rigged wiring between Mountain Dew and Appalachia is the use of the phrase "Mountain Dew Mouth" to describe the poor oral hygiene habits in the area which have led to widespread gum disease and tooth decay. The town was the "hub" of eight "coal camps" located along the outskirts of the town. And Part 2 explored the link between transportation and healthcare. Diaper-clad, the strange critter kicked open a trap door in an apartment where three dudes . Consider what every movie star, news anchor and television personality has in common: not height, weight or ethnicity (though there is certainly an enormous amount of room for more diversity). The basic principle in CenteringPregnancy, Rising told me in her suburban Washington, D.C., office, is that almost any group of people drawn together in a common health concern will be more motivated to alter their behavior than will a single patient hearing instructions alone in a doctors office. That's according to calculations by Singer, who is working with Harris. In more national conversations, it often seems to take up this stunt double role, particularly when addressing rural poverty. For those who have never had the pleasure of sipping an ice cold can of Mountain Dew, youve probably only heard talk of its vices, of which there are (admittedly) many. Sixteen percent of the women had abscessed teeth. Dew Baby". But over in Appalachia, the region that stretches roughly from southern New York state to Alabama, the fight against soda is targeting an altogether different concern: rotted teeth. In fact I did photograph a young man giving his baby Mountain Dew at Pats house. I abruptly found myself assessing everyone I met, trying to determine whether or not Caudill would consider them dullards. In late July 2013, I was invited to drink beer on a Friday night with a group of people in West Columbia, West Virginia. The Appalachian Mountain shiners are part of the hillbilly culture. For my mountain home, shame surrounding Mountain Dew has become a rhetorical touchstone thats somehow come to shape the countrys perception of life in modern day Appalachia. Perhaps most shocking was how poor the womens general oral health was at the start of the study. 5. And yet, as Priscilla Harris, an associate professor at the Appalachian College of Law told NPR, battling a drink that has become so ingrained in the culture of the region is not easy. hide caption. If others of us dont see that or dont see only that, and are tired of it being the focus Vance has already preemptively inoculated himself from such criticism. Vances book is simplistic, and it generalizes. And Part 2 explored the link between transportation and healthcare. I think it valuable for us to question how we arrive at the meaning of poverty. ------------------------------------------, the link between transportation and healthcare. Bill Estep and John Cheves. Kentucky is also the state with the most smokers, followed closely by West Virginia, according to aGallup study. 4. unsalted butter, at room temp, sugar, eggs, at room temp and. That approach never really worked. The Appalachian folk song was written in 1928. One. As if I was living in some sort of divinely staged cosmic play, my theoretical interest in shame came home to roost shortly after my exploration began one Sunday afternoon at home in New Orleans. Vance grew up in an Appalachian ex-pat family in Ohio with rough-talking relatives who thought nothing of trashing a store until they got what they wanted, and who regularly communicated by screaming at each other. All rights reserved. This name has a Celtic origin and the meaning of the name is 'he who comes from the mountain'. Singer adds, "Here in West Virginia, you see people carrying around bottles of Mountain Dew all the time even at a public health conference.". He concluded that Appalachia could not be fixed because its people were broken. Stay informed by following Appalachia on Twitter at @AppalachiaJourn. Bascom Lamar Lunsford, born in Mars Hill, North Carolinain 1882, was what amounts to the first Appalachian ethnomusicologist- but not at first. Vance ignores valid reasons why Appalachians are leery of outsiders telling them who they are because historically, that has always been done through a very skewed lens. Its also a dramatic story. Oral, chronic infection untreated is getting into the bloodstream 24 hours a day, seven days a week, seeding systemic circulation. With limited benefits through Medicaid and no benefits through Medicare, in order to receive insurance, people must purchase private plans or employer-provided plans. 4. Whats more, 40 percent of all births are paid for by Medicaid. It isnt that Appalachians cant face the truth. Shameful or not, no food stuff is more personal to me, more deeply burrowed into my sense of identity than Diet Mountain Dew. By childbirth, all the problems had been treated; continued follow-up monitoring also showed reduced smoking by the mothers and increased breast-feeding, and led to lower levels of prescribed pain medication and sharply reduced number of visits to local emergency rooms for other health problems. Dozer had had 20 beers that day and I remember that it was muggy and hot out, he was super sweaty, and my hands were kind of slipping along his body. 'Children of the Mountains': Full Show An introduction to Diane Sawyer's in depth look at the people of Appalachia. (The city of Cincinnati saw fit to make it illegal to discriminate against someone of Appalachian origin). Harris says that dental problems are especially bad because dental care is harder to get in Appalachia, which includes many of the poorest and most remote communities in the country. MADISONVILLE, Ky. Nurse LeAnn Todd-Langston and nurse-midwife Sarah Almon had long known their rural west Kentucky county faced a crisis, but it was getting worse. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. It was officially developed in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the mid-1900s, but it has ties to the wheat and rye distilled by Irish immigrants who settled in the region as coal miners during the. Appalachia is less racially and ethnically diverse . The problem isnt lack of doctors or even access to standard OB-GYN service. ------------------------------------------, Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas, Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America. He is the author of, among other books, "A Queer Geography" and "Apples.". Appalachians are portrayed as individuals who are unable to get out of their own way problems caused by excessive Mountain Dew consumption. How the circumstances of a people cannot be defined through an individual still photograph. They offer the services they can, provide prescriptions for painkillers and antibiotics, and recommend a dental clinic for a follow-up. I would probably get fewer dirty looks if I snorted a couple of lines of cocaine every day. Various states, from Florida to Tennessee, have proposed bills that would restrict the use of SNAP to buy soda, sugary treats or other unhealthful foods. Drinking more than a soda a day raises the risk that acids found in many soft and energy drinks will eat away at your tooth enamel and its pearly white color. According to area dentists, one of the main culprits contributing to toothlessness in Central Appalachia is Mountain Dew soda (a PepsiCo product). Appalachia has a high concentration of these natural voids, including the world's longest. With new Mountain Dew flavors seeming. I dont really have any answers. 17 More. The ties that bind know no distance. We continued up the mountain and at the very top we caught an incredible view of the Ohio River snaking across the land separating Ohio from West Virginia. I remember this story myself. Required fields are marked *. Family and friends stopped by to share stories, complain about hardships and seek advice for problems. Gum infections, decayed teeth that weren't attended to so that by the end of pregnancy they would have full-blown abscesses; we would just hope that didnt put them into premature labor.. Appalachians are portrayed as individuals who are unable to get out of their own way problems caused by excessive Mountain Dew consumption. Many lives were lost. Yet throughout the United States, from remote areas of Alaska and across the contiguous 48, poor people struggle to get access to regular dental care, relying on charity clinics and hospital emergency rooms. Vance has chosen the version of his life to tell, and he chooses to emphasize what fits his narrative. Id like to think if you cut me open a little Diet Mountain Dew would be right there in my bloodstream, hovering just below the surface, like the homesickness that never quite goes away. I would definitely attribute these problems to drinks." More than a third of Americans do not have dental coverage, according to aWashington Post article. Copyright 2023 Salon.com, LLC. And in an impoverished part of the country, where the majority of residents either go hungry or receive government aid for food, public health advocates are calling for a policy overhaul to address the problem of rotted teeth and gum disease in Appalachia. This is the third in a series of posts by Stacy Kranitz for BagNews Originals. In December, when my boss urged me to read it hes from Appalachia just like you I did not read it. While Medicaid, as the medical safety net for the poor, should provide help for those with dental needs who cannot afford to pay, only 15 states offer full dental benefits and five states offer nothing at all, as reported in a study byPew. I take out teeth every week that could have been saved with restorative work, he told a reporter forUSA Today. A Brief Appalachian History. 1 in the nation in toothlessness. Oops. The town sprang up after the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and Southern Railroad made a junction there in 1890. With time, a toothache can become another entity entirely. Chaotic people beget chaos. Packed with poems and prose, book reviews, science, and exciting exploits from around the globe, Appalachia delivers inspired stories of adventure, redemption, and the outdoors. 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