Should you get oral body piercings?

As self-expression becomes increasingly prevalent and popular in today’s generation, body piercings have become a go-to way to express oneself.

However, body piercings are not without its own set of risks, specially for oral piercings which involve the tongue, lips, cheeks, or any combination of these. Mismanagement and mistreatment of these piercings could cause several oral conditions.

 

Piercing Norms

Oral piercings are normally done without the aid of an anesthetic. For tongues, a ball or barbell-shaped piece is placed in the tongue, guided by a sharp needle. If the tongue is newly-pierced, a longer and wider piercing will be placed to accommodate swelling. It may be switched out for the intended jewelry after it heals, which takes around four to six weeks. Tongue splitting, on the other hand, is a more dangerous process wherein the tip of the tongue is literally split into two to create a forked appearance. Those who split their tongue will often pull apart their tongues so that the pieces do not heal and reattach to each other — which might even require expensive surgery to completely reverse.  

Symptoms

Those who get orally pierced may experience pain, swelling, infection, and increased saliva flow. Blood from mouth injuries may likewise flow, in addition to tongue swelling.  

Risks

Oral piercing exposes oneself to several risks, such as the following:

• Prolonged bleeding – A punctured blood vessel may result in uncontrollable bleeding, and may cause minor to severe blood loss.
• Chipped and cracked teeth – Accidentally biting on jewelry – specially when the mouth is not used to its presence yet – may cause fractures. Braces, crowns, and other oral restorations may likewise be affected by the presence of these jewelries.
• Infection – A common occurrence for any type of piercing, he risk for infection is amplified due to the increased presence of bacteria in the mouth.

These side effects may be detrimental to your oral health, which means that dentists will normally caution against these treatments.