chlorhexidine for cavities???

[Toolip]

Has anyone ever heard of using chlorhexidine for preventing cavities?  A friend of mine was just telling me that her daughter's dentist suggested treating the whole family for 6 months.  Apparently it can help eliminate the bacteria that is really bad for causing cavities.  I don't know, I'm skeptical.  Has anyone heard of this or tried it?  I guess you can't have any "active" cavities during the treatment.

[Otto]

Originally Posted by Toolip 

Has anyone ever heard of using chlorhexidine for preventing cavities?  A friend of mine was just telling me that her daughter's dentist suggested treating the whole family for 6 months.  Apparently it can help eliminate the bacteria that is really bad for causing cavities.  I don't know, I'm skeptical.  Has anyone heard of this or tried it?  I guess you can't have any "active" cavities during the treatment.

Looking at the bottle of Hibiclens that I have to hand, I can say I'd take a course of doxycycline for oral bacteria long before I'd put chlorhexidine in my mouth. The "active" bit certainly sounds sketchy.

[ETA.--Eh, I jumped the gun. Hibiclens is 4%, the oral rinse 0.12%. Sorry about that.]

[Toolip]

I'm confused. What did you mean? You would take oral antibiotics before using chlorhexidine topically? Is that what you are saying? And why do you think it sounds sketchy about the active cavities? I'm not trying to be condescending, just curious what you mean

[Otto]

Like I said, I totally jumped the gun. I thought, "Chlorhexidine? There's some right here, which the dermatologist told me to keep away from my face! DOOM!!!" Off by two orders of magnitude [edit.--factor of 30]. Doxy is a treat for the gums, according to my dentist, but I just grabbed a Ball of Wrong and went screaming into the forest.

[lindberg99]

I've heard of using it, I thought it was just for adults with really bad gum disease? I was wondering about it and found this article about using it in children http://ezinearticles.com/?Chlorhexidine-Mouthwash---What-it-is-and-What-it-is-Not&id=4152464 It said that it is not approved for children. I think I would be hesitant, it also has alcohol in it. How old is her daughter?

[Toolip]

her daughter is 5 and it was suggested by a pediatric dentist. I guess it's "off label" for children but has been commonly used.

[kitandkaboodle]

I've used chlorhexidine recently after gum surgery, and one unpleasant side effect is that it will darken your teeth with anything more than occasional use. Then you either have to brush like heck for weeks to get it off or go get another tooth cleaning at the dentist. Not sure if it's related to the chlorhexidine, but also noticing temperature sensitivity in the teeth around where I was swishing the chlorhexidine.

Would be better just to avoid sweet things, though. Then your friend wouldn't have to worry about the chlorhexidine. Often hard to give advice to people close to us, though!

Also, I wonder if your friend is expecting little kids to brush/floss well themselves? I feel like it's necessary to help them--usually doing it for them--until they really get a good hang of it. Unlike me, my 3 kids have never had a cavity.