Flushing Q-Tips

This may seem minor but my mother flushes q-tips down the toilet. She cleans her ears and just tosses the waxy stick into the bowl. If you figure she uses two a day and has lived in her house 38 years, that is 27,740 q-tips for her alone. That doesn't factor in leap year, or the fact she told me and my brother to do the same thing. Now I would like to know how in all this time she has never had a plumbing issue? I actually thought this was totally normal until my early 20's when a roommate of mine caught me doing it and totally freaked out. I tried to explain what I learned to Sybil, but she just cocked her head and said I think that only applies to the generic brand of q-tips. I dropped it after that.