Teeth Hurt After Using chlorhexidine mouthwash

[br]

Do you guys use it as a mouth wash?...

My Dr. said that , teeth should not be xposed to CH...

I used it for one week, by taking care that the liquid is not touching teeth. It did not do any good for my breath, instead my teeth are becoming yellow and more sensitive.

May I ask how you can use it by it not touching your teeth.Did your Dr. give a reason?
I noticed CHLORHEXIDINE GLUCONATE mouthwash stains my teeth.

[NOTANYMORE]

It may stain your teeth with long term use but it is not permanent and can easily be scraped off using a plaque scraper. This instrument can be purchased at any drug store and doesn't cost much. Also, you can just schedule a follow up with your dentist and have the "stains" removed.....not a big deal.

Is chlorhexidine good for you?.........No. Don't use it for more than 1 week. If your halitosis does NOT improve after a couple of days using it, then you MAY have ruled out type 1 halitosis....tongue related.

[br]

It may stain your teeth with long term use but it is not permanent and can easily be scraped off using a plaque scraper. This instrument can be purchased at any drug store and doesn't cost much. Also, you can just schedule a follow up with your dentist and have the "stains" removed.....not a big deal.

Is chlorhexidine good for you?.........No. Don't use it for more than 1 week. If your halitosis does NOT improve after a couple of days using it, then you MAY have ruled out type 1 halitosis....tongue related.

Thank you very much, notanymore. I noticed that after eating hot spicy food and things like cake the breath smells far worse. My dentist said he does abrasive cleaning, I think and he said that only removes the stain caused by things like chorosodyl; which has the CHLORHEXIDINE GLUCONATE.
Thanks

[bunniesluvme]

I've used chlorhexidine gluconate mouthwash for years. It was the Therabreath extra strength brand in combination with the toothpaste too. It worked great in the beginning. But my bb seemed to adapt to it. I'm not sure if it was the product or my extreme overuse of it. While at college, I used it upon waking, after breakfast and each meal, between each class. An average use of 12 or more times per day, brushing teeth and tongue and then gargling for 90 seconds. . My dentist said I had very clean teeth. But with time and excess use, my tongue, teeth, throat and even ears would ache. I did not get any staining of the teeth, however.

My father is a bio-chemical engineer, said to not use it at all, it was dangerous. No more for me.

[br]

I've used chlorhexidine gluconate mouthwash for , throat and even ears would ache. I did not get any staining of the teeth, however.

My father is a bio-chemical engineer, said to not use it at all, it was dangerous. No more for me.

May I ask why your father said the mouthwash was dangerous.

[bunniesluvme]

This was a few years back, but my dad was a bio-chemical engineer for the U.S. military for 25 years. He used to make agent orange for the military during Vietnam. And when he told me that it was a heavy duty chemical that he worked with frequently, I didn't question him further. I'm not saying it was used in agent orange. Even after retirement, he would not disclose exactly what it was used in.

Fortunately, with time my dad became wiser and found other ways to make a living. After a long military career, he worked for a government agency specializing in worker safety.

[Snezhana]

http:/GiveMeThatSmile.com It is very unusual reaction to CHLORHEXIDINE mouth wash or Peridex as it is commonly known in dental world. We usually prescribe this rinse for people after oral surgery or for someone with sever periodontal disease because it is a very good anti - bacterial agent. It should be used every 12 hours sharp after you brush and floss and you should not eat or drink for 30 min after rinsing with it. It does stain your teeth (mostly it stains plaque that you miss after brushing and flossing) and contributes to calculus build up (that is described on the bottle under side effects). It does not cause cavities. It does not dissolve your enamel. In 15 years I worked with this rinse, I have never heard of such sever reaction to it. One thing for sure, if you react to it so sever, you should not be using it. There are other rinses that can replace Chlorehexidine. I personally prescribe this rinse for 2 weeks only. Because it is anti bacterial rinse, it does changes bacterial flora in your mouth - basically kills good and bad bugs. I hope this was helpful.

[Mortimer]

CH should not be gargled or rinsed with. Just dab it on your tongue, don't let it touch your teeth.

It kills bacteria, and not like an antibiotic which will only work temporarily. It'll work forever.

[dolittle]

Chlorhexidine gluconate 0.2% mouthwash is only recommended for use over a few weeks. This is because:

1) it stains teeth temporarily brown
2) it can temporarily alter the taste sensation
3) but the major reason is that oral bacteria become resistant to it

the only reason I can think of that your teeth hurt when using a mouth wash is that it was a bit cold, and you either have sensitive teeth (you can get this if you have a lot of acid in the diet or if you have been brushing too hard for years, wearing away the teeth slowly and pushing back the gums exposing the more sensitive roots) or a little cavity somewhere

I prescribe this regularly for hospitalized patients who are going to have difficulty performing oral hygiene for whatever reason. E.g. they have a cancer in their mouth, their jaw is broken or they have a very painful tooth infection or gum infection. It has also been show to reduce infections rates after oral surgery if you use it right before.

I would not recommend anyone to stay on it in the long term, but it is not dangerous if you do. It is technically possible for people to be allergic to pretty much anything, but I've never heard of this with this mouthwash

I know that some experts recommend chlorhexidine and/or hydrogen peroxide for halitosis, and some research has shown it to be effective, but you run the risk of the above side effects if you stay on in the long term.

Use a non alcoholic mouthwash- (alcohol dries out the mouth, letting bacteria multiply). If you don't want to buy anything: just use saline it is a very safe and natural antiseptic that people have been using for centuries. Use the mouth wash at a different time to brushing (it washes the protective fluoride off the teeth) and try to stick the tongue out and tilt the head back, to get at the tonsils and back of tongue.

Can I just say that brushing the teeth, flossing and scraping/brushing the back of the tongue have more evidence for successfully managing halitosis than anymouthwash. But these measures need to be regular, gentle (not damaging the teeth, gums or tongue), and thorough. It might be worth getting the dentist/hygienist to show you how to floss correctly, because most people just cut down into the gum, which is not cleaning out the bacteria that lurk below the gumline, but also could damage the gums over time.

take care

[Jimi Stein]

Again we have some smartipants here, that can't believe their medicine is givng sideeffects.

Read here it even causes gingivits

Not all the sideeffects are noted for god sake, there a millions of people in the world. People react differently.

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/chlorhexidine- ... fects.html

I experienced extreme pain in few teeth, they had to be root canaled, prior to that ; i have not experienced any symptoms at all. No pain, no swelling, no discharge.

Just stop caching checks with your mouth, and face the reality

[dolittle]

Again we have some smartipants here, that can't believe their medicine is givng sideeffects.

Read here it even causes gingivits

Not all the sideeffects are noted for god sake, there a millions of people in the world. People react differently.

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/chlorhexidine- ... fects.html

I experienced extreme pain in few teeth, they had to be root canaled, prior to that ; i have not experienced any symptoms at all. No pain, no swelling, no discharge.

Just stop caching checks with your mouth, and face the reality

Hi J

That was an interesting link...


Just to re-iterate what I said above, this is a strong mouth wash that I don't recommend ppl stay on for more than a few weeks (I even said use saline instead because it is safer in the long term, and free if you have some table salt already).

It is possible to have allergies to pretty much anything, however, the rate at which those reactions and side effects occur is important too. If something minor like irriration only happens to less than 1% of people, and in the rest it reduces the chance of getting an infection during oral surgery...is it better to use the chemical for the greater benefit of all the patients? after all getting an infection can be really painful and even get you hospitalized. This chemical is very good at killing oral bacteria for a few weeks, then the effect reduces. Gingivitis is inflammation caused by irritaion of gums fromt he presence of plaque (Plaque is made up mostly of bacteria), so it can fight gingivitis for a short time. Gingivits can generically mean inflammation of the gums, including from causes other than plaque. Allergic reactions that irritate the mouth could be described as causing a gingvitis in this respect.

Another thing with this link is it lists the rates of these complications as compared to placebo (i.e. people given a mouthwash with no chlorhexidine in it, but they were not told that it didn't have it in it). sometimes there is negligable difference between the rate of side effects between using the chemical or useing the placebo:
e.g. "included headache (27.1% vs 27.5% with placebo chip)"

Now, the thing about statistics is that data can be misleading. You need to find run tests on the results to tell whether any differences are not down to random chance. These tests depepnd upon the amount of people in the study. i.e. if you tested only 2 people, any difference between the side effects are not reliable. This is called statistical significance.

The 0.4% difference above (or even some of the larger differences) might be shown to be statistically insigificant, it would depend upon the ammount of people in the trial they are quoting.

Another thing: this page of side effects also includes when using the drug in different routes, e.g. as an enema. Is it also possible that some of those side effects are not going to be experienced whent he drug is used differently i.e. as a 0.2% mouthwash


I am still finding it hard to believe that the sole factor of using this mouthwash caused you teeth to die. Teeth are a hard tissue, harder than bone, and for a substance to be so destructive that it could burn through this and kill the teeth in the time it takes someone to use a mouthwash, well, there would be major soft tissue damage as well I think.

Can you read over this comment:

"the only reason I can think of that your teeth hurt when using a mouth wash is that it was a bit cold, and you either have sensitive teeth (you can get this if you have a lot of acid in the diet or if you have been brushing too hard for years, wearing away the teeth slowly and pushing back the gums exposing the more sensitive roots) or a little cavity somewhere"

When I worked in general practise (now Im in hospital post), I came across this a few times. There were sensitive teeth that gave pain from people using a mouthwash, but using a plain water mouthwash at the same temp would cause similar discomfort in the teeth. When you think about it, vigorously washing cold liquid around teeth, doesn't really happen at any other time...

Another thing that is possible that your teeth were genetically weak, conditions like dentigenesis imperfecta, amelogensis imperfecta where the teeth are very week and break down (even then, I don't think a mouthwash could have done this)

There is such a phenomenon as "correlation but not causation". In this case I am proposing that chlorhexidine did not cause your teeth to die (just for discussion). Using the mouthwash we will call event A and the teeth dying event B. All we can say for sure is that A has followed B. This does not mean that B would have happened at the same time without event A, and it does not proove that A has caused B. This is caused the "ad hoc fallacy" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_hoc_ergo_propter_hoc

Something we can all agree on is if you get bad side effects, then discontinue the med and consult the person who told you to take it.


Some more info I read in yesterday on this mouthwash and halitosis:

shown to be the most effective antiplaque and antigingivitis agent (out of all the chemical wasys of reducing micribiological load)
it works by disrupting bacterial cell walls causing them to take in water and burst.

Some researchers ahve shown that there was 43% reduction in volatile sulphur compound after 0.2% CHX mouthwash, and a 50% reduction in the halitosis severity by people who smelled the breath and rated it



I think it is unfair that you call me a smartipants when I am only trying to help, I'm not trying to cach any cheques, and I am sorry that your opinion of healthcare professionals has become so low. It must be frustrating for you that repreated doctors and dentists have not managed to help you.

Take care



P.s. do you come from the US?...I definately disagree with the way medicine works over there, patients should never have to pay for any treatment (especially one as socially crippling and distressing as this). I think it encourages professionals to be dishonest and not act in the best interests of their patients, they want to make money, right? In the UK we have free socialized medicine for anyone who needs it. I get paid by the government, and not by how many mouthwashes I sell to patients (if we extend this example), and I feel that has got to be a better way.

[Jimi Stein]

You should google this mouthwash, i have read same effects from other people, umbeleivable pain in teeth until they stop using it.

Do you think if it causes calculus, is it impossible to cause caries?

The mouthwash is I think a strong acid for the teeth and it just destroys them in my case. Why would suddenly pain appear otherwise in many teeth in my mouth, i never experience pain otherwise.

I called Katz, complained to him, he said he never heard a story like that. I talked to him many times about him.

Call him now and ask him if somebody complained about pain in teeth, the old scammer will say no of course.

Same goes for other doctors, they just hide the and bad testimonials because their wallet could get hurt

[dolittle]

You should google this mouthwash, i have read same effects from other people, umbeleivable pain in teeth until they stop using it.

Do you think if it causes calculus, is it impossible to cause caries?

The mouthwash is I think a strong acid for the teeth and it just destroys them in my case. Why would suddenly pain appear otherwise in many teeth in my mouth, i never experience pain otherwise.

I called Katz, complained to him, he said he never heard a story like that. I talked to him many times about him.

Call him now and ask him if somebody complained about pain in teeth, the old scammer will say no of course.

Same goes for other doctors, they just hide the and bad testimonials because their wallet could get hurt

I need to review 2 topics to try and unravel this:

-hydrodynamic theory of pulp sensitivity (how we think teeth feel pain)
-pharmacology of chlorhexidine gluconate with regards halitosis

I am not saying that this will be the absolute truth, people should read for themselves and decide. Medical knowledge is constantly evolving with new research. What we have is a model of how we think things work. As our understanding deepens, this model becomes more and more complex, and closer to "the truth".

You only need to look back in medical history to see many follies...e.g. stomach uclers being caused by stress, later in turns out that H pylori infection is the cause. Yet these patients were labeled as crazy and treated with antidepressants etc by doctors before this discovery.

A similar thing is now happening with IBS. Stress is a factor of secondary importance to the primary cause in the majority of cases: small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. This is not accepted by mainstream medicine. Instead of antidepressants, we should now be treating IBS with antibiotics and diet. (maybe even fecal transplants in years to come)

The wheel of research turns slowly. It takes time to design, carry out and publish original research, It also takes time for new information to filter down into the mindset of your average general practitioner. You pretty much have to wait for a consensus to happen (i.e. for the new information to become accepted), this needs to be published in up to date medical textbooks, and finally a new generations of doctors and dentists to study this, graduate and start practicing.

That there is currently a lot of info out there on this topic. This should be available, free, to everyone. I believe that many of the people on this forum could be helped if their doctors/dentists followed the diagnostic algorithms and treatments of the most up to date literature. Unfortunately there is a lot of ignorance, because of the reasons I mention above.

Watch this space

[Bbc]

Hello everyone!

I used the entire therabreath kit for quite a while. Spent gazillions importing it from the usa by Fedex. Don't recall any tooth ache or side effects, and kept using it based on all the reviews I read on the net, hoping that time would make it work for me. It didn't.

If you go to my thread "the answer to ......" you'll read that I have used Zantac to cure my problem. But that's not the point here. What I want to say is that I also use diluted h2o2 as a mouthwash after I clean my teeth and tongue, morning and night, and it is terrific. And costs peanuts.

Give it a try. You won't regret it.

[Jimi Stein]

Do you have to use it for life? What if you stop, bb comes back, I wonder how soon you will start to experience sideeffects