PepsiCo to Support Dentist in Appalachia

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

PepsiCo, the makers of Mountain Dew soda, told ABC News' Diane Sawyer that the company wants to work with a dentist in eastern Kentucky to help save children's teeth, after an ABC News report on the problem of tooth decay, or "Mountain Dew mouth," in the region.

PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi spoke to Sawyer Tuesday and expressed concern "about any overuse or misuse of the soda among small children."

Nooyi said that PepsiCo will work to recruit more dentists in the region and will give Dr. Edwin Smith, a dentist in Barbourville, Ky., another van for his work.

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

In an earlier statement, PepsiCo said that its vice president of global health policy had reached out to Smith to learn more about his clinic after Smith's appearance on "Good Morning America" Friday.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=6899312&page=1

[BeatleBoot]

1. Drill 'em, Fill 'em, and Bill 'em

This is kind of like a drug pusher offering healthcare to the user, isn't it?

[sandnsea]

3. He offers free care

He had been providing the materials out of his own money as well. Looks like he'll at least get help with that.

[RamboLiberal]

4. Didn't you read this part?

Smith 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, Smith 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.

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

[yellerpup]

2. They're trying to get the syndrome renamed

"Coke Caries".

[Kittycat]

5. They should also work on educating the ignorant parents feeding it to their kids in the first place.

Sure I know - many parents here probably let their kid have a drink of soda from time to time, but there's no reason people need to A) be filling their kids up on sugar drinks on a regular basis, B) need to be giving them caffeine, C) giving it all in doses so high, it's creating a serious oral health issue. If it's doing that to their teeth - how much are they drinking, and what is it doing to their bodies? Do the children even have normal sleep habits? Doubt it. Just being raised by the uneducated parents they have, that likely vote republican, so the GOP just wants to keep them that way.

[JVS]

6. If Mountain Dew is now going to associated with the Appalachia special its brand-image is dead.

[Hannah Bell]

7. the man invested $150K of his own money, & pepsico, one of the world's largest corps,

will give him a van.

oh, & "work to recruit more dentists to appalachia."

isn't that special.

how about subsidizing 50 or so?

[Frank Booth]

8. Them cavities ain't nothing a little more Mountain Dew can't fix.

[Lost in CT]

9. Sure laugh now but I think they water there crops with Mountain dew up there. nt

[FedUpWithIt All]

10. I watched someone once put Mt. Dew in an infants bottle. I threw a holy fit.

Why? Still don't get it.

[Javaman]

11. There is actually a simpler solution...

not that I'm against having dentists for these folks. They have been ignored far to long, but the fact that pepsi is doing it makes me suspicious.

just give them straws. It allows the overly saturated with sugar drinks to flow past the teeth. But probably because of the rampant mountain topping that has no doubt fouled their water sources, these poor folks are forces to drink this panther piss instead of water.

We live in some truly fucked up times.

[Systematic Chaos]

12. They could at least try switching to the Diet Mountain Dew instead.

But I suppose the acidity of that will eventually mess up your teeth too, but my educated guess is it would slow down the process by a couple decades or more.