More awareness needed about risks of oral piercings

That's according to a study presented at EuroPerio9 last week.

For this study, 18 patients (14 female) with a tongue and/or lip piercing from our database of more than 1400 patients treated in our service were included. The mean age of this population was 28,3 + 7.7 years. Three out of 18 patients wore both, i.e. a total of 14 tongue piercings and 7 lip piercings were assessed. Clinical parameters and the maximum wearing time of the lip and/or tongue piercing were recorded. Periodontal findings in teeth close to the piercing were compared to teeth not affected by the piercing.

In a retrospective study, an association between oral piercings and increased periodontal inflammation was found, as evident by increased bleeding on probing and increased probing depth and/or attachment loss.