Aug 2007
Piercings and Your Oral health
17/Aug/2007 12:35 AM
It
has been awhile since I posted, but this is something
that has bothered me for quite some time, so I
thought I would get it out there. For a number of
years dentist's have had concerns about what long
term effects lip and tongue piercings had on the
teeth and gums. A recent case published in the
California Dental Association confirms the fears that
we have had about oral piercings . An 18 1/2 year old
female came to the dentist with her lower two front
teeth being loose. The patient informed the dentist
that she had been wearing a tongue bar for the
previous 41/2 years. Turns out that the bar had been
pressing up against the two front teeth, and over
time and caused bone loss and periodontal disease in
the area. She had unconsciously been forcing the bar
against the teeth, to the point that the bar had
actually bent. In addition, there was a great deal of
plaque on the bar, which help irritate the gum
tissue. The moral of the story is that if you are
going to have an oral piercing, you need to be aware
of the damage it can cause, and need to treat it as
if it were one of your teeth. This means taking it
out and cleaning it everyday. Personally, I would be
very uncomfortable having someone pierce my tongue or
lip, but that's just me.
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