Jimi wrote: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.