I’ve been using Crest Pro Health mouthwash lately, as a supplement to my otherwise skimpy oral health regimen. It is not alcohol-based; the active ingredient is “Cetylpyridinium Chloride.” I have two questions, which I suppose are “general questions” but seem far too mundane and pointless to put there.
On the bottle, it says that if I want to use it after brushing my teeth, I have to rinse my mouth out with water first. Why? Is there some kind of reaction possible? I ask because I think it is stupid to rinse my mouth with water out before using something described on the bottle as a “rinse.”
When I spit out the mouthwash, which is bright blue in the flavor I’ve bought, little bits of some semi-solid substance come out. I’m quite sure that my mouth does not normally harbor these strands. Is the mouthwash combining with something in my mouth to form them? [conspiracy] Have they formulated the mouthwash in this way so that it will appear to be doing a much more thorough cleaning than it really is? [/conspiracy]
Google it a bit. You’ll find lots of info about the strands, the brown stains it creates on your teeth, and the 12 hour metallic taste it leaves behind.
I used it briefly, and even though I did rinse my mouth thoroughly after brushing, it left nasty brown stains on my teeth that I had to go to the dentist to remove.
We used that stuff for a while because it’s supposed to be more gentle than Listerine but we just didn’t like the strange little bits that ended up in the sink. We’re back to Vanilla Mint flavor Listerine.
I googled it, and now I’m sad. I love that stuff. It’s the only thing that seems to get rid of the pain in my rotted out teeth (that I’m getting extracted sometime in April, yay!).
I have been using the stuff with no problem. I have read that the strands are the result of bacteria binding to the solution, thats what we want to happen, force the gingivitis causing bacteria to vacate the premises right?
No brown stained teeth here,but I wonder if the mouthwash for some users is reacting to say a whitening product or something?
Purely anecdotal, but I’ve been using the stuff since last June. I’ve had two professional cleanings since then with no mention of brown staining, nor do I see any staining on my teeth. I find it slightly odd that the only place I could find significant mention of the staining problem was on Amazon.
The active ingredient in the Crest product is also in Scope, which my parents have been using as long as I can remember with no staining.
Weird.
I do get the little blue bits, but I just accept them as a reminder to rinse the sink well. Takes all of five seconds, and the sink stays cleaner.
[robot voice on]
Crest Pro Health does contain a blue dye. It is safe and will not permanently stain your teeth or tongue.
Crest Pro Health does contain a blue dye. It is safe and will not permanently stain your teeth or tongue.[/rv]
Thanks, Crest. We believe everything you say, because no company has ever been even slightly dishonest about the side effects of its products before.
The strands might be the skin of your mouth sloughing off. I get that effect from tartar control toothpaste - I can just peel the skin off the inside of my cheeks after I use this stuff (just the top layer - it’s not bleeding or anything). Course, normal strength mouthwash and toothpaste hurts my mouth like a sonofagun; I may have a more sensitive mouth than normal.
Hmm. Perhaps the warning on the bottle to rinse your mouth between brushing your teeth and using the rinse is for precisely this reason. Maybe the brown staining is caused by a reaction between a toothpaste ingredient and the rinse, and that’s why they’ve put the “rinse with water first” advice on the bottle.
(Although muldoonthief’s experience undermines this theory…)
The plot (and the solid discharge caused by this rinse) thickens…