Mouth Piercing Problems - Topic Overview
Problems that can develop when you have your tongue, inner cheek, uvula, or lip pierced include:
- Pain.
- Bleeding.
- Infection at the site of the piercing.
- Infections, such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV, and syphilis.
- Speech problems.
- Chewing and swallowing problems.
- Tooth damage, including chipped, cracked, or broken teeth.
- Scar tissue.
- Swelling that may block your throat.
If you have your mouth pierced and use oral jewelry, make sure you can remove it. The ball on one end of a barbell-shaped device must be able to be screwed off and on to make the jewelry easy to insert and remove. Mouth jewelry that dislodges can be accidentally swallowed or inhaled, causing injury or requiring surgical removal.
You probably think having a tooth pulled is not a particularly enjoyable experience. And you no doubt expect to have some discomfort afterward. But that's OK, you say. You can endure it when you need to. But if the pain becomes intense and doesn't go away after a few days, it may be a sign of a condition called dry socket or alveolar osteitis. Only a very small percentage -- about 2% to 5% of people -- develop dry socket after a tooth extraction. In those who have it, though, dry socket can be very...
Read the An Overview of Dry Socket article > >
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