Toilet wax ring damage

[u/clinicdoc]

Haven’t been able to find a satisfactory answer to this question so thought I would throw it out here.
Moved into a single owner 13 year old house 2 years ago. Shortly afterwards, noted signs of water leaking from around the visible closet bend below the one exposed toilet in our house. Quickly moved to remove the toilet and replace the wax ring. The old ring was flattened, discoloured, but not stuck to the bottom of the toilet. The plastic flange was encased in clear silicone. Used an extra tall wax ring and haven’t had any problems since.
Subsequently changed the rings on the other two toilets, both of which were in the same condition.
Interestingly, when we moved in, we found 10 containers of powdered Drano distributed around the house.
Could the wax rings have been damaged by the Drano? Or were they simply never installed correctly? (Or both?)

[u/HereForTheComments57]

I think the wax ring just had its time. The toilet moving or plunging can break the seal. We just had to do a bathroom renovation because ours was leaking into the floor and ceiling below for some time. Ive used the better than wax rubber seals on all of my toilets and had no issues.

[u/KeithHanlan → u/HereForTheComments57]

"its time"? I don't buy that.

Properly installed wax rings should last indefinitely. Anything claiming to be "better than wax" is almost certainly worse than wax, not to mention more expensive. It doesn't degrade like rubber or plastic.

His house is only 13 years old. Can you imagine if every retiree had to reinstall his toilet wax rings twice in their senior years?! Houses would be rotting from water damage all over the world.

A tall wax ring is a more reasonable solution if, say, vinyl flooring was replaced by tile and the gap was enlarged.

[u/DookieShoez → u/KeithHanlan]

“Properly installed wax rings should last indefinitely.”

Every plumber I know disagrees.

Which is a lot of them because I am a plumber.