Tongue Piercing Complications Found Worldwide
Tongue Piercing Complications Found WorldwideThe creation of a diastema caused by “barbell” jewelry in a tongue piercing is chronicled in a recent case study led by researchers at the University of Buffalo (UB), New York and published in the Journal
Tongue Piercing Complications Found Worldwide
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A University of Buffalo orthodontist has documented that “playing” with a pierced-tongue stud can eventually result in a gap between the front teeth.
Subjects frequently develop a habit of pushing the metal stud in their tongues up against and between the front teeth, creating a gap.
Thousands of dollars of orthodontia may be required to close the gap, as was the case with this patient. |
The creation of a diastema caused by “barbell” jewelry in a tongue piercing is chronicled in a recent case study led by researchers at the University of Buffalo (UB), New York and published in the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics. The report echoes findings from studies abroad that illustrate the prevalence of complications associated with tongue piercing among adolescents and young adults.
The UB case study focused on a 26-year-old female who had worn a barbell-shaped tongue stud during the previous seven years. The female subject was a patient at the UB orthodontic clinic, where she reported the development of a diastema between her maxillary central incisors.
Photographs provided by the subject confirmed the diastema was absent prior to the tongue-piercing procedure.
Investigators discovered the female subject had been in the habit of pushing the stud between her maxillary central incisors. The practice, sometimes referred to as “playing,” eventually caused the diastema. After the diastema was formed, the female subject reportedly developed a habit of placing the barbell-shaped stud into the diastema.
“The barbell is never removed because the tongue is so vascular that leaving the stud out can result in healing of the opening in the tongue,” notes Sawsan Tabbaa, DDS, primary investigator and assistant professor of orthodontics in the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine. “So it makes perfect sense that constant pushing of the stud against the teeth—every day with no break—will move them or drive them apart.”
Investigations into complications caused by tongue piercing have been carried out worldwide by government and university-led efforts throughout Europe and in Israel. These reports show complications affect populations in several areas and suggest an overall lack of information about potential risk.
In Strasbourg, France, a sample group of 201—comprised of dental patients, university students and members of the public—responded to a survey that assessed complications relating to the oral environment following piercing of tissue. The survey found complications were reported post-piercing by 23.4% of respondents.
Researchers in Germany used the MEDLINE database to compose a literature review that confirmed long-term complications associated with tongue piercing. They also discovered evidence of complications reported during and immediately following tongue piercing. The study, led by staff at University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany, connected the results with the need to better inform patients about the potential complications of tongue piercing.
A team of researchers in Israel investigated the colonization of Candida among a group of healthy, young adults who had tongue piercings. Swabs from the anterior lingual mucosa of test subjects showed higher incidence of Candida colonization among those who had pierced tongues: 20% of the sample group. The report concluded tongue piercing increases the risk for colonization of Candida albicans whether an ornament is or is not present in the piercing.
Source: University At Buffalo, The State University of New York; Community Dental Health; Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice; Oral Diseases. Images and Image Captions used by permission of University of Buffalo, The State University of New York.
