Yup, as a Kentuckian, I’m used to the piling on. I live 15 miles southeast of the city cited in the original article, Barbourville, and things are nowhere near as bad as reading this would lead one to believe.
Yes, there are still a few backroads and “hollers” where you can find the stereotypical hillbilly, but this breed is dying out fast. Broadband is finally penetrating even the most remote of locations, everyone has a cellphone glued to their ear just like anywhere else, and many make a decent to excellent living via any number of factories in the area and service and tourism related jobs.
People drive nice cars, even ...*gasp*...Porsches, Dodge Vipers and other pricey sports cars and SUVs. No one I know listens to Bluegrass—and I know a lot of people from here to Harlan to Hazard—despite every documentary about the area having a damn banjo picking along in the background as the score.
Yes, there are dentists, and plenty of them. I have a nice set of teeth myself, as do most I know. Sure, you can find the occasional person who doesn’t much care to see a dentist, but I’d say that is true most anywhere.
People love to mock those that live in this area as being ignorant, but the ignorance I see as regards their knowledge of my home in the hills is astounding. I guess it isn’t their fault, as the media and Hollywood continue to perpetrate the stereotype.
I have seen both extremes here in Central Kentucky. I think there is something to “good” teeth being hereditary. Mrs SLB and I have five children ages 33 to 16 and all have great teeth, yes there were some braces, in fact the youngest and the oldest are now seeing the same orthodontist. Mrs SLB has great teeth, but I have some of the worst teeth known to man. My mother had lousy teeth and every dentist I have seen say that to some extent it is hereditary. I still have my own teeth, but am no stranger to root canals and crowns, so maybe they are not really all my own.
In 1990/1991 during Desert Shield/Storm I worked with deploying several Kentucky National Guard units. The one major problem making soldiers “non-deployable” was dental problems. At first the dentists either tried to repair the problems or simply sent the soldier home to be replaced by another. Eventually the manpower pool started to dwindle so the word was put out to start extracting bad teeth. Many soldiers had four, five or even more teeth pulled and then were deployed to the Mid East.
Mark, I lived in Kentucky for six years, Ft Campbell, Ft Knox and Frankfort. I love the state and consider it my other home. Being a native Southerner, I too am used to the crude comments and stereotyping found in the media. I can only chalk it up to jealousy and envy. In the case of the Slimes, likely penis envy.