Even today when I discuss drinking it in public, people look at me incredulously as if waiting for a punchline. Its just especially galling to see it done by someone claiming insider status. Now why would you want your baby to be smoking? Rising, whose Centering Healthcare Institute has worked with major medical schools across the country, flew down to Madisonville to help Todd-Langston and Almon start the prenatal program there. Poverty is much greater in Central Appalachia than the other regions of Appalachia and about twice that of the U.S. as a whole. He was just carrying a big case of Mountain Dew." I said I hadnt really noticed as he shook his head. "It makes no sense to be paying for these things twice.". But one has to wonder if the underlying issues of the region aren't addressed, will taking sodas off the menu really solve anything. 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. No one I met on the trails that day mentioned the rape of Appalachia nor did anyone mentioned that they missed the mountain. Today most of the time the superstitions are said in a joking manner. I. Waxman Chaim,The Stigma of Poverty: A Critique of Poverty Theories and Policies. Each time I hear it, I feel angryangry and ashamed. But generally the women coming to Trover Clinic werent doing anything about it, mostly because in Hopkins County there was only one dentist who accepted Medicaid patients -- for one half-day a month and only on a walk-in basis. Were going to make a nurse out of you!, She looked up and had this grin and said, No ones ever told me I was good at anything -- and youre telling me I can be a nurse someday!. Sitting at my kitchen counter with DMD in hand while my then-boyfriend concocted an intricate lunch, without lifting his eyes a gauntlet was thrown: "You have to stop drinking Diet Mountain Dew. One of the amazing things about Centering, Todd-Langston said, is when you bring people together on common ground, even though the lower socioeconomic women are the ones that get the most out of this, by bringing them in here, those barriers go away. It's Pepsi's #2 cash cow, second only to their flagship beverage, Pepsi, even beating out Diet Pepsi for total sales. 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. TheADAhas reported that Obamacare's requirement to provide dental care for children under 19 will be rolled back, and the 5.4 million adults who gained coverage under the Medicaid expansion will lose all dental benefits. Four men showed off a massive pit of mud they found. New book takes on, and takes down, Appalachian Trump Country narratives and elegies, Hillbilly Elegy: Another generalization of Appalachia. Just 10 years after the War on Poverty was declared, Caudill saw that nothing was changing for the Appalachian people. The phrase is inherently noxious. The Appalachian Mountains stretch from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to northern Alabama and Georgia. Singer says she would like to see West Virginia and other states in Appalachia try this approach. (This story has been corrected since it was originally published.). Public health advocates say soft drinks are driving the region's alarmingly high incidence of eroded brown teeth a phenomenon dubbed "Mountain Dew mouth," after the region's favorite drink. But Vance claims his relatives were violent and had poor coping skills because they were Appalachian. 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. In the kitchen that day, Mountain Dew was used as a stand in for a harder conversation about our waning relationship that we had been dancing around for months. Ive been thinking a lot about the War on Poverty. It was hot potatod around through several bottling companies before eventually being sold to Pepsi in 1964, and nationally marketed. The two types of rock that characterize the present Appalachian ranges tell much of the story of the mountains' long existence. Appalling already, the state of dental care in America faces even greater challenges with the threat of the Trump-backed American Health Care Act currently being debated in the Senate after passing in the House at the beginning of May. 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. But what is "Mountain Dew Mouth?" Between about 1.1 billion and 541 . While Mountain Dews target audience today might be neon tank top wearing bros and skateboarding teenagers, my Appalachian demographicnamesake and allwere the original consumers. This legend centers around the Bell family. 28K views, 631 likes, 154 loves, 240 comments, 642 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Mountain Roots: Here's the 36th Episode in my new Exploring Appalachia series! They have the common ground of becoming a mother., The patients are accountable to each other, said midwife Sarah Almon. So we were saved and mostly unharmed. Upward of a fifth sometimes a quarter of the babies they were delivering at the highly regarded Trover Clinic were below weight and premature. The seemingly relentless desire to perpetuate negative regional stereotypes (rotting teeth! And he must have one hell of a publicist. The problems faced by the region are painfully real, and deserve not to be trivialized or oversimplified in the national spotlight. 277. No national news outlet, it seems, cares to shine a real light on the deep and profound problems (drug wars, economic stagnation, post-coal mine environmental havoc) facing the area that causes people to place their health on the backburner and, more often than not, fall on the crutch of unhealthy food and drink. Appalachian or Southern Baby Names? If you had an abscess the size of the palm of your hand youd get something done about it.. 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. 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. https://newrepublic.com/article/138717/jd-vance-false-prophet-blue-america, https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/10/hillbilly-elegy-review-jd-vance-national-review-white-working-class-appalachia/, https://elizabethcatte.com/2016/11/19/common-people/. Poor Law Amendment Act, 1841. In the special, the term was used as a catchall phrase to describe the poor dental health of children in Appalachia, due to the abundance of sugary drinks. I dont really have any answers. In October, I went to a mayoral forum and the women behind me were talking about it I mean, hes from there, so he must know I did not read it. 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. Brothers Barney and Ally Hartman, who had moved their business from Augusta, GA, to Knoxville in 1932, initially bottled a lemon-lime mixer they jokingly called Mountain Dew, a 19th century nickname for moonshine, for their own after-hours consumption. "At this point, we've been addressing poverty for 40 years," Mullins said. Or, as Eater puts it, "Mountain Dew is only a sideshow to the heart of the matter.". document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. In my latest video I discuss folklore and superstitions. Nationally, the rate of infant mortality was 211.1 per 100,000, but it was higher in five of six southern Appalachian states (all except Tennessee). It is not dense, it does not use large words or complicated concepts. Named after mountain slang for moonshine, Mountain Dew was sold to Pepsi in 1964, where the soda went national. Regardless of cultural influences Mountain Dew-mouth or not the dental health epidemic in America is rooted in the historical and political legacy of an unequal system. 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. Each weekend, local residents can be found drinking and have a good time while riding around on these trails with All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) also known as 4-wheelers. 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. We can identify them in joint infections that contribute to arthritis., He paused. Dental health is essential to overall health, and serious and sometimes fatal illness can result from untreated oral conditions. Public health . . Don't give up, though. Last week, my tiny county announced the statistics for heroin busts so far in 2015: nine deaths and 76 overdoses in three months. Did he really just tell me what to drink? Unless policy and behavior change, were not going to improve the health and its links to systemic health.. Prenatal training and preparation was a key part of the centering sessions across the pregnancy period and thereafter. Appalachian names are often taken as a southern baby name but there are subtle differences. The Appalachian Mountain shiners are part of the hillbilly culture. In the south-east mountains of the United States this word is often used instead of hollow; A small rising valley region between two hills or mountains; often containing a creek. They dont scream at each other, they dont fight loved ones or strangers as a way of life. As a defense mechanism, Ive become a trivia expert on the most esoteric facts available about Mountain Dew so I can titter them off as a nervous shield. The sun was setting and flashing red lights from an ambulance and several cop cars were lighting up the sky on the Ohio side of the river. 319K views 8 years ago With little to no job prospects the people living in Appalachia often do not have adequate health insurance. The coal operators, who came from elsewhere to buy the land, blew up the mountains. Mountain Dew - Willie Nelson. Dentists have noticed that the toll soda takes on teeth can resemble the damaging impact of meth. A curated collection of pieces related to our most-popular subject matter. Dew Baby". We can identify them in the plaque in blood vessels leading to arteriosclerosis. In December, when my boss urged me to read it hes from Appalachia just like you I did not read it. He cites a 2009 ABC report on Mountain Dew mouth in Appalachia, and the outraged reaction of Appalachians. No one is all good or all bad, but family life for most American hillbillies I know is not how Vance, wielding his overly broad brush, describes it. 1. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. According to dentists, one of the main culprits is Mountain Dew soda. Brenda makes a delicious desert -- Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings.-- very easy to make and very good .thank you very much for watching! Harry Caudill, . "Here in West Virginia, you see people carrying around bottles of Mountain Dew all the time even at a public. Mountain Dew is the 4th top-selling carbonated soft drink on the planet; right behind Classic Coke, Pepsi, and Diet Coke - in that order. For me, that argument continues to manifest itself on both a personal and interpersonal level. The fact that it IS a narrative is one big reason why his book has gotten the attention it has, when more deserving explanations of Appalachian culture and history have been perhaps overlooked. This can confuse the viewer who might come across this image of the baby drinking the bright green liquid and see it as a confirmation of a known stereotype. The elderly are affected, too. Chaotic people beget chaos. If you calculate gum tissues inside and outside of the teeth its an area the size of the palm of your hand. See other posts by Stacy here. Obesity. 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. Sometimes there were drunken fights. He is doing what outside media has done to Appalachia for generations. It turned out that just behind Pats trailer was an old reclaimed strip mine that had been turned into ATV trails for recreational use. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. February 15, 2009 Popular Native American folklore says that a bloody battle between the Cherokee and Catawba tribes took place on the mountain. After getting an x-ray and having the tooth extracteda procedure that would have cost from $600 to $800 in a regular dentist's office Matello left the clinic, wondering why people who work hard and put faith in their government for help are obligated to endure such demeaning treatment. Lunsford is an attorney, however, he is very fond of folk songs. This unique name is an uncommon name for boys but it a unique name. January 15, 2021. After becoming the first person to successfully call attention to the dark reality of what was happening in Appalachia, Caudills thinking changed. I take out teeth every week that could have been saved with restorative work, he told a reporter forUSA Today. This level of judgement has only heightened from year to year as Ive settled into a career as a food writer. As a memoir of a rough childhood, its fine. Less than 300 feet into our journey home, we rolled and tumbled. Six years ago Ebersole was looking for a site where he could undertake a program to demonstrate in the field what clinicians were telling him in their practice. When I moved away from home, it became very clear that I should be ashamed of drinking Diet Mountain Dew (my parents and I still lovingly abbreviate it as "DMD" in text messages). Opioid addiction, smoking, chewing tobacco, lack of access to municipal water systems, and the necessary preoccupation with getting food on the table over worrying about nutritional value are also having an enormous effect on peoples teeth. To compensate for the cracked molar on the left side of her mouth, she had simply learned to chew on the right side. The soda is ruining teeth, in an epidemic known as Mountain Dew-mouth. The acid causes erosion and the sugar abets decay. One. Years before when visiting my hometown for the first time, we took a stroll down Main Street and passed a teenager with a freshly sprouted goatee in a cut off t-shirt carrying a case of Mountain Dew atop his shoulder like a mounted bazooka. The predominant jobs of the working classwaitressing, housekeeping, nursing, etc. The man, who proclaimed that Appalachia had been raped, now wanted to rape certain Appalachian people of their ability to procreate. So even though hospital visits for dental problems cost an enormous amount to the health care system as a wholean estimated $2.7 billion over a three-year period according to one majorstudy people rarely receive the treatment they need. CIVIL WAR ERA AND INDUSTRIALIZATION. I went there with Dozer, one of Pats friends, who owned a 4-wheeler. Today, coal has left Appalachia, as have a host of other industries that brought economic opportunity. I later found out that a dead body had been found and recovered from the spot where the lights originated. *Im not an economist, a historian or any kind of academic. In more national conversations, it often seems to take up this stunt double role, particularly when addressing rural poverty. The Appalachians are among the oldest mountains on Earth, born of powerful upheavals within the terrestrial crust and sculpted by the ceaseless action of water upon the surface. Many Appalachians agree with Derek Mullins of Whitesburg, Kentucky, when he referred to President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1960s War on Poverty, which was launched in Inez, Kentucky. We made our way to the strip mine trails and as we did, we passed Butchs grave. It also seems that along the way, he had already been writing something for the conservative outlets like the National Review (whose editor has a glowing blurb on the back cover, as does Chua) that helped promote him and make him the hillbilly whisperer for more mainstream publications. 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. The angry reaction supports the academic literature on Appalachian Americans, he writes, then proceeds to cite exactly one piece of academic literature, a paper three sociologists published in 2000 about how hillbillies learn from an early age to deal with uncomfortable truths by avoiding them., We tend to overstate and to understate, to glorify the good and ignore the bad in ourselves, Vance writes. His experience is valid, but its not everyones experience. Destroying store merchandise and threatening a sales clerk were normal to Mamaw and Papaw: Thats what Scots-Irish Appalachians do when people mess with your kid, Vance writes on page 40. The Bell Witch. I remember this story myself. My own happy and stable Appalachian childhood does not make for an exciting book. Dr. George Kushner, the director of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, explained that he sees ER patients with dental pain on a daily basis. The town sprang up after the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and Southern Railroad made a junction there in 1890. When, in 2006, Todd-Langston got a call from Jeffrey Ebersole proposing to establish a full dental service for pregnant moms, she said it was like a gift from heaven. I find Caudills complicated legacy a reminder that there is a lot more to the evolution of a people than the victimhood that has been placed upon them. According to area dentists, one of the main culprits contributing to toothlessness in Central Appalachia is Mountain Dew soda (a PepsiCo product). (London) 1841, #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } All share an enviable smile gleaming, bright white, smooth, ovular teeth. Kentuckys oral health? Thats one reason why their babies get cavities so fast., After more than four years of the oral health and centering program -- during which it has served 500 women -- Todd-Langston and Almon say they believe attitudes in the county may be beginning to change. The freshest news from the food world every day, By submitting your email, you agree to our, How Mountain Dew Came to Perpetuate a Deep-Seated Appalachian Stereotype. Pat owned a trailer on a street called Tin Can Hollow. "Diet Mountain Dew" (alternately spelled as "Diet Mtn Dew" and originally titled "Diet Mt. 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