If you`re thinking of piercing something around your mouth, you may want to read up a bit. A professional piercer may give you enough instruction for your piercing`s immediate aftercare, but a dentist or physician can tell you the less appealing information.

Oral piercing is usually done around the lips, cheeks and tongue. Generally, people take them out after only a couple of years. While it`s in place, however, the chances of health problems increase greatly. Because the mouth is a passageway for materials to come in and out of the body, it becomes a hotspot for contamination.  

With the tongue in particular, if infectious material from the inside of your mouth gets into the fresh hole, it can travel through the bloodstream and cause heart inflammation, blood poisoning or toxic shock syndrome. The tongue is a muscle, unlike the cheeks and lips, and a piercer also has to be very careful not to puncture any important nerves or veins. These conditions make the tongue one of the most dangerous areas for jewelry, and tongue piercing is regulated or banned in some areas.

Common problems following piercing around the mouth include drooling, speech problems, and movement loss. Jewelry can be mistakenly bitten, fracturing or chipping tooth enamel; and frequent rubbing against gum tissue can cause the gums to wear away from the teeth, sometimes exposing roots or bone. Unfortunately, mishaps with oral jewelry are often permanent and require surgery. And the longer you wear your piercing, the greater your chances will be of having oral damage.

With these details laid out, it is possible to make these types of piercing safer. If you want an oral piercing, have it done by a reputable, qualified professional. If s/he refuses to pierce a certain area, seriously consider the reasons why before you try to find somebody else to do it. If your piercer is passing up an opportunity to make money, they probably have a good reason to be concerned. Ask your dentist for an opinion too.

The piercing should be reasonably placed, as determined by a professional, and jewelry should be a comfortable size and shape.   Make sure you get a set of instructions for aftercare, and follow them. This means no kissing and no alcohol until it`s healed, among other things. Although the procedure should be done with surgical grade stainless steel, watch for severe inflammation; you might be allergic to the metal in your jewelry.

For the tongue, a shorter length of barbell is preferable to a longer length. The first barbell will be extra long to give room for your tongue to swell a little, so you will need to buy a shorter one after about a week and a half. Avoid playing with your jewelry to minimize contact with tissues and teeth; even tapping it against your enamel can create tiny fractures.

Just like anything else inside the mouth, jewelry will collect plaque and debris. It is necessary to clean it regularly and replace it if your saliva wears out the material. You should periodically take your jewelry out and clean it by hand.

Lastly, if your piercing starts to give you big problems, don`t hesitate to take it out. Keeping a piece of jewelry in is never worth the health of your mouth. A hole can be re-pierced with less pain than a tooth can be replaced. Although if it doesn`t seem worth the maintenance, you may be better off without the stud in the first place.

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