Alcohol related posts.
“Grandpa slipped away,
Quietly today.
He simply went to sleep,
No more to wake or weep.
But Grandpa’s not truly gone,
Because his memory lives on,
In all of us who loved him,
Never to be forgotten”
Please read and share the post that is under this link.
Today I went to see a man who for my children is very dear despite his dependency to alcohol. They never defined him as an addict and never thought anything but the best of him. This man is their grandfather who fell gravely ill several months ago with acute pancreatitis caused by lifelong abuse of alcohol.
Having spent over five months in hospital of which he spent four in an intensive care (2 months in coma), he was finally at home. But he was a shadow of a man he used to be.
This man used to be proud. He was a kind and pleasant (when sober) man. He was very skilled and was ready to help others when needed. He loved kids and knew what would make them happy.
Today when I went to see him he was lying in bed barely recognisable weighing just 50 kg. He had tubes coming out of his stomach leading into a bag that was filling up with brownish secretion from his organs that were riddled with a spreading necrosis. He was unable to obtain any food or drink inside, taking several medications many times a day, dependent of his wife who was looking after him. His voice was like he was speaking from the grave.
It was the saddest sight I have ever seen. There was no need or desire to say I told you so. No gloating over being right all these years about his future. It was just simple sadness over a kind man, father, husband, grandfather who would have had so much more to give to so many but instead now was bed-bound waiting the imminent death. Slow death that took away all pride and dignity and which every day reminded him why he is where he is now. Alcohol.
But even more sad than seeing him now is the fact that he never got the help he would have needed for his drinking which started at his twenties. No-one intervened when there was still a chance to turn the tables. Instead of this a troubled sensitive soul was taken over by the numbing comfort of an alcohol that took a firmer hold of him as the years went by. He faced many misfortunes in his life and he dealt with them by alcohol. He had happy times and he dealt with them by alcohol. Before he reached his fifties everything he did, everywhere he went the alcohol came along.
He was told by all the close relatives that he cannot continue drinking like this. He was told he has a problem with the alcohol. One day he admitted he does, the other he declined. He never seeked help. And no-one could force him. Instead he came a master in finding excuses to visit his hidden bottle. Taking the garbage out, checking something from the garage, fetching firewood for the fireplace. Everyone who was witnessing this knew that he went for his hidden bottle. This too was heartbreaking to watch.
When he finally fell ill and the house needed to be emptied of all the alcohol there was altogether 30 litres of strong spirit.
This man’s story is not unique. There are plenty of similar fates in the world.
The longer the alcoholic carries on drinking the harder it is to intervene. I mean that the intervention we can do at the dental practice has less impact than it would have in the early days of an addiction. That is why the early intervention is very important and us dental professionals have a very easy and natural way to intervene.
Please read my post below and hopefully it will bring you courage to ask about patients’ alcohol consumption.
About 60 year-old man came to see me one morning and complained that every once in a while a layer of skin comes off inside his mouth and no-one has been able to tell why. He was concerned and felt…
Source: Alcohol – The feared subject
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Not Truly Gone
Yes and no.
If you are a patient and you ask this question from two dentists there is a BIG chance that you will get two answers. The other shows you the green light and the other the red.
There is no consensus amongst the dental professionals about the recommendations. Even the professors in dentistry argue about the recommendations publicly. They give statements to the press for and against the mouthwashes after a new study about the risks of the mouthwashes is released. Some negate all the study’s conclusions.
So no wonder it leaves patients confused if us professionals are too.
Generally no.
If you have a good oral hygiene – brushing twice a day and cleaning between the teeth most nights – and you use a fluoride toothpaste there’s no reason to use a mouthwash.
But there are exceptions – naturally!
If you suffer
Remember that in both of these cases you should choose the alcohol-free version.
Oral cancer
If you use a mouthwash that has alcohol (ethanol, but I’m going to use the word alcohol instead) levels of 25% or higher and you have been using it since your teenage years the studies state that you have higher chances for getting an oral cancer.
One leading brand (the one that rhymes with word blistering) can have alcohol levels as high as 26% and this high level is thought to be toxic for gingival tissues when used in abusive amounts. But – and it is a big but – why do they add alcohol to the mouthwashes when it is a known fact that for alcohol to be toxic for bacteria it must be used at 40%? This means that there is no help from alcohol levels as low as 26% but it can still be harmful to the gingival tissues.
Discolorations
If you use a mouthwash containing CHX for a longer period of time it will stain your teeth. Stains can be removed but it will cost you of course.
In my professional life I have noticed that for some unknown reason the leading blistering-rhyming mouthwash stains the teeth with some patients even though it doesn’t contain the CHX. Actually the looks of the stains is different to those that build up from the CHX. After a thorough interview of the patient no other explanation was found to the stains than the mouthwash the patient had been using. The staining stopped once the patients stopped using the mouthwash.
Dry mouth and bad breath (halitosis)
Alcohol in mouthwashes can dry the mouth and the dry mouth is prone to halitosis. People often seek help from the mouthwash for the halitosis but it can actually make the matters worse.
Lichen planus
If you have been diagnosed with lichen planus you should not use any mouthwashes unless advised by a professional. But even in this case you should not use mouthwashes with alcohol.
Wouldn’t it be the wisest thing to do if you DIDN’T use a mouthwash whilst us professionals argue about the health risks of the mouthwashes? It’s your health that is gravely at risk if the alcohol in mouthwashes is proven to be harmful.
I have seen patients who are going through the cancer treatments for oral cancer and I have seen the 50% of them who survived the cancer. I can tell you that it’s not a pretty sight. Not during the treatments or after surviving it.
Why would you play a Russian roulette over your health? I wouldn’t and therefore I am not using any mouthwashes.
Always choose the alcohol-free fluoride mouthwash.
Remember
I really don’t get it how we cannot decide if the mouthwashes containing alcohol should be recommended or not. It’s just ridiculous that even inside one dental practice opposite recommendations are given to the patients.
What all of us professionals agree is the fact that alcohol is an aldehyde and it is metabolised by the oral bacteria to acetaldehyde which is carcinogenic in humans. Carcinogens cause cancer! And yet we argue about the risks of using an alcohol containing mouthwash.
What are the reasons behind all this? Some have suggested that some of the dental professionals have financial commitments to the manufacturers of the mouthwashes. I must emphasise that this is a hearsay. But if you have read my previous post about the integrity amongst dental professional you understand that everything is possible.
If you are interested to read about groundbreaking study about the risks of using the alcohol containing mouthwashes (one that caused a mayhem amongst dental professionals) visit here.
Dental Revelations 