There are different types of oral piercings and you may be considering one or more of them it you are into piercings. The first step to deciding whether or not you want to have this done is to know the most important things about them. Here are 5 things you should know about oral piercings:
1: You have a lot of options to choose from when it comes to oral piercings
You can have oral piercings placed in your cheek(s), lip(s), tongue, etc. You can choose different sized posts, different materials and you can pick from thousands of different designs. Having the ability to choose from so many different looks is just one of the things that gets some people so excited about getting the piercings. You can even change the jewelry every day if you want, once you have healed from the piercing process and this can take weeks.
2: You should always go to a professional piercer
You really want to make sure you go to a professional piercer. They will have been trained on blood borne pathogens and follow the proper procedures to make sure they don't cross contaminate the work field or tools in a way that spreads illnesses and diseases.
3: Oral piercings are high maintenance
Once you have an oral piercing put in, you will have a lot to do to properly care for it. You won't be able to eat harder to chew foods until it is healed. You will need to brush the area very carefully so you don't irritate it. You want to use an antiseptic mouthwash after every meal and you want to swish with warm sea salt water a couple of times a day.
4: There are health risks associated with oral piercings
When you get an oral piercing, you can expect quite a bit of swelling. In fact, a tongue piercing usually swells so much that the piercer will put in a post that's almost double the regular length to make room for all the swelling. When it goes down, you will switch to a smaller post. No matter how well you take care of an oral piercing, there is always a chance of infection due to the bacteria in your mouth. This infection can easily travel through the rest of your body and make you ill. You will need antibiotics to clear it up.
5: Permanent damage can be done to your gums, teeth and other areas of your mouth
Oral piercings are bad for you from a dental standpoint. Some of the parts of the jewelry can be in constant contact with your gums and/or teeth. When they rub against the gums it can cause the gums to recede which means they will pull away from the teeth. When they rub against your teeth, they can fracture or chip them. You may bite into the hard jewelry when you go to bite food or chew and this can cause severe breakage of one or more teeth. Your tongue has a lot of small nerves running through it and if one of them is hit it can cause your tongue to not move properly which may require oral surgery. Other facial nerves can also be hit that affect the way your lips or other parts of your mouth move.
