I have seriously never heard any of that said before and would probably walk out on any vet that said it to me.

Ri's and mouthrot are caused by completely different infections - having one may well make you more likely to catch the other as the immune system is compromised but one does not turn into the other.

Any infection that spreads to the blood is generally called septicemia. It is usually a massive infection at that point that will indeed kill your snake if not treated in all likelyhood. A lot of people first notice it by redness on the belly.

Looking around the mouth for red or yellow spots is indeed the search for visible signs of mouthrot - but you check the whole mouth and especially around the gums.

An RI can kill your snake without showing any spots inside the mouth - though if it is high enough up the airway you might see some reddening at the opening to the trachea.
Really? Wow. I am truelly sorry then if what I said was wrong. I thought this guy really knew what he was talking about =[ ... kinda upset that I just gave the guy all that money if he's really wrong about everything he told me. Sorry for that =]

But no way this side of the dirt will I agree that pouring water onto the head of a headshy species is a good test of anything about the snake.
Yea he didn't mean legit pour gallons of water onto their face, I think he meant more of misting them while in the cage. Either way, I don't like being sprayed in the face either so I haven't tried this, just passing on what I thought was knowledge from the vet. Kinda upsetting though if your telling me the guy who just perscribed my snakes with meds really doesn't know what he's talking about. Thanks for correcting me and sorry for the post =]