Dental Piercings

Introduction Oral jewelry is frequently seen in dental practices, especially with adolescents and young adults. The most common piercings are on the tongue and lip. Piercings can also be found on the uvula, labial frenum and lingual frenum. Another form of piercing is dermal piercings that can be found on the chin, dimples, upper and lower lip, and on the cheeks near the sinuses. There are several reasons why adolescents and young adults get oral piercings, including control over the body, as a form of identity, something new, following the current trend or fad, influence of friends, inclusion into certain groups, greater acceptance in society, and stimuli provided by the media (Purin, Rosario, Rosario, & Guimaraes, 2014). The shape and
A tongue piercing has been shown to cause more dental defects such as tooth chipping, cracked teeth, and grooves on the teeth, than lip piercings. The length of time oral jewelry is worn has a significant effect on attachment loss and probing depth, and it does not differ between the lip or tongue piercing. Gingival recession was significantly associated with the piercing height, closure, and stem length (Plessas & Pepelassi, 2012). The International Journal of Dental Hygiene found that jewelry associated with recession frequently developed as a narrow cleft-like defect on the lingual aspect of the mandibular incisors with recession depths of 2-3mm or greater, often extending to or beyond the level of the mucogingival junction (Hennequin-Hoenderdos et al.,
Homecare includes, rinsing the mouth with an antimicrobial rinse three to four times a day, eating cold foods the first three to five days to reduce swelling, avoiding hard or spicy food for the first five to seven days, drinking a sufficient amount of water, tightening threaded piercing once or twice a day, washing hands before and after handling mouth jewelry, downsizing jewelry as soon as swelling has subsided, avoiding oral contact such as kissing for four weeks, cleaning jewelry after each meal, avoid opening too wide to prevent tissue trauma, and contact a doctor as soon as possible if an infection is suspected (Uppal et al., 2012). It is also important to limit the caffeine, alcohol, and cigarettes for the first three days and avoid chewing gum and tobacco until tissue heals (Badry, Farhart, Karam, & El-Haji, 2014). In a dental practice oral jewelry needs to be removed for panoramic radiographs, periapicals and bitewing radiographs because of their location in relation to film placement. Oral jewelry removal during local anesthetic is at the discretion of the dental professional but it may be prudent for the mandibular block as it anesthetizes the tongue. The tongue ring will need to be removed because it increases the possibility of tooth damage until the anesthesia has completely worn off (Pramod, Suresh, Kadashetti, Shivakumar, Ingaleshwar, & Shetty,