Oral Piercings

WHATEVER!  

How popular are oral piercings?  Tongue piercings come in second right after ear piercing.

I urge anyone who is considering or already has an oral piercing to do your research (The Association of Professional Piercers, www.safepiercing.org) and be hypervigilant about care and safety.  Don't forget the mouth is highly vascularized ....that means a huge blood supply so a piercing will bleed easily and cause swelling (especially the tongue).

Tongue jewelry that is placed right after a piercing has a long shaft because of the swelling.  Once the tongue returns to a normal size, this jewelry should be changed to something with a shorter shaft so that the movements of the tongue don't cause the jewlery to smash into and crack your teeth. Plastic barbells are especially easier on teeth, but are more porous than metal and under a microscopic and have been shown to harbour more bacteria.

Oral piercings can cause tooth and gum damage and can become infected.  The mouth is full of bacteria that can enter the bloodstream and since oral piercings may bleed a fair bit it is important to monitor the tissue around the puncture point - look for swelling, redness, pain, burning, discoloration,bleeding, or oozing. Oral infection from piercings can lead to serious health problems if not treated.

If you are a Dental Health professional I recommend Betsy Reynold's presentation on The Pierced Patient.  Besty is on a lecture circuit for a variety of subjects and she a wonderful, humorous and entertaining speaker - look for her at dental conventions or dental CE events in your area. You can read her article on The Pierced Patient here:    http://digital.turn-page.com/i/50155/26


More information on oral piercings can be found here: www.mouthhealthy.org