Dentist in Warren, Michigan Discusses Oral Piercings
Hi, I’m Dr. Greg Apsey here in Warren, Michigan. You can reach me at 586-573-7700. I’m here today to talk about oral piercings. Don’t really get it myself, don’t really have a desire to have one myself but here are the things you should be thinking about when considering an oral piercing.
First of all, you are having something pierced into your tongue or your lip or whatever. Your mouth is full of bacteria and viruses and the piercing of tongue for instance is an avenue for all those bacteria that are in your mouth to be sent right into your bloodstream. Okay, there is a bacterial invasion of your bloodstream when you have this procedure done and there’s no way to avoid that, the mouth is full of bacteria no matter what. You can’t wash it away.
So there is risk of infection to the heart. So if you have any complication or any issues with your heart such as a valve that was replaced or a faulty valve in the heart, or you’ve previously had endocarditis which is an infection of the heart; you are at great risk for developing another endocarditis, which is a life threatening condition, if you have your tongue pierced.
So if you have any issues with your heart you should definitely consult your physician prior to doing your oral piercing. My recommendation would be do not do it even if your heart is perfectly healthy those bacteria are being introduced not only into your blood stream but into the tissues in your tongue; and depending on your ability to fight infection or the level of bacteria in your mouth that introduction of bacteria can turn into a very serious infection. That infection can cause swelling of the tongue and closing of the airway. My recommendation is, if you have this procedure done and you begin to have any of these sorts of complications you immediately see your doctor or your dentist prior to even considering this you should be going to a reputable facility.
The instruments that are being used for instance in a dental office, any instrument that’s used in your mouth is sterilized in steam autoclave. It’s a very high, heat high pressure system that kills every bit of bacteria that’s on the instrument. And we do that routinely for every instrument that we use in your mouth. Now when you go to a tattoo parlor or wherever it is that you’re having this piercing done, you had better ask questions about whether the instruments that they’re using are sterilized and even asked to see their autoclave. And maybe even look to see if they’re removing the instruments from sterilization bags when they’re doing this procedure.
The reason that’s important is because diseases like human error, HIV and Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C are passed very easily on dirty instruments. So you are at risk if you’re going to a shady place, you are very much at risk of contracting a very serious illness. Let’s just say you still want to do this. You might still want to do this no matter what. So, you found this good reputable place and you want and you want to go ahead and have this piercing done. Okay, the risks involved having a piecing go beyond that. I’m still trying to convince you not to do it.
Whatever it is that you’re putting, let’s say you’re putting something into your tongue, every time you swallow your tongue lifts up, your teeth come together and depending on where your tongue goes, many people swallow and their tongue comes forward and that’s a point at which whatever that’s in your tongue is going to smash against your teeth. And that happens repeatedly through the day; when chewing, when playing sports. There’s a great wet risk of this ball, or dumbbell, or whatever it is, that’s in your tongue. It’s going to smash against your teeth, and create a fracture of the enamel, and that fracture can be surface. It can also be very deep into the structure of the tooth, so it’s possible to lose teeth from these. I highly recommend if you’re playing sports, and you have a tongue piercing that you remove it, and put your mouth guard in before playing sports. Because you can’t control what’s happening during the game in many cases, especially football or other contact sports. So I highly recommend that you remove it before any of that.
You should definitely follow some procedures for maintaining this tongue ring, or tongue piercing. It’s best before meals to remove it and like I said remove it before playing sports. Also once a day at least once a day or when you brush your teeth you should be removing it and brushing it as well and removing the bacteria that are on it just to minimize the bacteria contamination of your tongue.
So it is possible to do it, it is possible to be safe with it. But you need to be careful you need to take care of it and take it out when it is possible because it can cause damage to you.
Thanks for listening.
Dentist in Warren, Michigan Discusses Oral Piercings
If you would like further information on oral piercings, contact our Warren dental office at 586-573-7700 or visit our webpage, drapseydds.com.