You might think your lip or tongue piercing looks cool, but even if you do enjoy your piercing, your teeth and gums probably aren’t happy. Before making your decision to get an oral piercing, take a look at some of these dental health risks:
- Cracked or chipped tooth: When you first get your lip ring, it’s larger in diameter and longer in length than normal rings so that your lips can have room to swell while healing. If you don’t get a smaller ring once your swelling goes down, you can cause damage to your teeth. Since larger jewelry moves around more, it rubs against your teeth and causes them to weaken and eventually crack and chip.
- Loss of tooth enamel: If you chew or play with your piercing, you can lose your tooth enamel located at the front and back of your teeth. As your tooth enamel wears away, you teeth become weaker and weaker, and can result in permanent damage.
- Recession of gums: Sometimes a piercer will place the ring in an incorrect position and then it will rub on your gums whenever you talk, chew or make facial expressions. Over time this will cause your gums to recess. The gum recession could be so extreme that your dentist would need to do skin grafts to fix your gum line.
If you still want to get an oral piercing, try out these safety tips:
- Go to a studio that has high health and safety standards, and uses sterilized equipment.
- Pick jewelry made of surgical grade stainless steel because it’s less likely to cause infections or allergic reactions.
- Clean out your tongue piercing every time you eat to prevent bacteria from building up in between your tongue and the piercing.
If you would like to learn more about oral health care tips, the Lakeway Center for Cosmetic and Family Dentistry is here for you. Contact us today and set-up your appointment.