Skin piercing could be the rage among adolescents, but researchers at Tel Aviv University have found good reasons to think twice in a drilling language or lip.

Dr Liran Levin, a dentist, Department of Oral Rehabilitation, School of Dental Medicine at Tel Aviv University found that about 15 to 20 percent of adolescents with oral piercings are at high risk for fractures and teeth gum disease. Resulting from fractures of teeth and periodontal problems, he says, can lead to the anterior (front) the loss of teeth later in life.

High rates of fractures due to piercings are not found in other age groups, and cases of serious injury among adolescents without periodontal oral piercings are equally rare, says Dr. Levin, who conducted the study with Dr. Yehuda partners Zadik and Dr. Tal Becker, both dentists in the Israeli army.

Their initial study was conducted in 400 young adults aged 18-19, and the results were published in the well-known peer-reviewed Dental Traumatology in 2005. A new review of Drs. Levin and Zadik published in the Journal American Dental at the end of 2007 is the first and largest of its kind to document the risks and complications of oral piercings, drawing on research into multiple centers in the United States and around the world.

Ten percent of all New Yorkers adolescents have some sort of oral piercings, compared with about 20 percent in Israel and 3.4 percent in Finland. Dr Levin warns teenagers to think twice before getting oral piercing, as it can easily lead to preventable health complications and in some (rare) cases, even death.

Prematura front tooth loss

“There are short-term complications piercing in low percentages of teenagers and, in rare cases a perforation to the oral cavity can cause death,” says Dr. Levin. “The swelling and inflammation of the area can cause edema, which disturbs the airways.” The warns that the most common concerns - broken teeth and periodontal complications - are long term.

“There is a repeated trauma to the area of gum,” says Dr. Levin. “You can see these young men and women playing with his pierced lip or tongue. This law extends the trauma of the mouth and in many cases is a precursor of the previous tooth loss.”

During the Israel-based study, researchers surveyed both teenagers with piercings and without being asked a series of questions about your oral health, their knowledge of risk factors associated with piercing, and piercings on their history, before to conduct clinical oral.

Ironically, Dr. Levin notes, young people who took oral piercing are very concerned about body image, but apparently unknown future risks, such piercing can cause.
The doctor’s Tips for parents and adolescents

In a nutshell, the best advice for teenagers is “trying to prevent her mouth drilled,” says Dr. Zadik. If your child is insistent, he says, then it is essential that the instruments are disposable drilling, and all other cleaning equipment at a site in an autoclave to help reduce infection.

After the procedure, the area should be rinsed regularly with a chloroxidine based mouthwash for two weeks. Thereafter, avoid playing with the drilling and cleaning on a regular basis. Calculation deposits drilling can form over time and must be removed by a dentist. Checkups should be done regularly.

“Teenagers are not easy to handle,” Dr Levin commiserates, but his advice to parents is simple: “Try if possible to deter his son from getting a piercing. They thank when they are older.”