Oral piercings have the potential to damage both your teeth and gums, especially when worn over a long period of time. Here’s how these piercings could impact your smile in the long run!

Tongue Rings Can Chip Your Teeth

Tongue rings typically include a barbell worn through the tongue. When chewing food, the barbell has the potential to knock against teeth and chip them. Tongue rings can even cause cracks in your tooth enamel [1]. Some people may even experience tooth sensitivity if the tongue ring is positioned in such a way that it rubs against the tooth enamel.

Lip and Tongue Piercings Can Cause Gum Recession

Both lip and tongue rings can contribute to receding gums. When the jaw is at rest, a tongue ring can lie against the backside of the bottom row of your front teeth (your central and lateral incisors), where it can rub against the gum tissue to cause the gums to pull away from the teeth.

Lip studs and rings can rub against the teeth and gum tissue just on the inside of your bottom lip. Gum recession is common in people who wear these types of oral piercings for a significant length of time. While mild gum recession can usually be reversed, severe gum recession will typically need a gum graft to restore your smile.

Potential for Oral Infections

Oral piercings, like any piercing, have the potential to get infected. Between touching your mouth to clean the jewelry and changing jewelry out, these piercings can lead to an infection that will require professional treatment to heal [2]. In addition, people who don’t follow their piercer’s instructions for healing can also increase their risk for an infection—keeping your hands and jewelry clean is essential!

Oral Piercings Can Also Affect Tooth Enamel

Your tooth enamel has the risk of being worn away when it’s in constant contact with your oral jewelry [3]. Tooth enamel is the hardest layer of your teeth and meant to protect them from sensitivity, decay, and discoloration. Once tooth enamel is gone, it doesn’t grow back. The longer you wear your oral piercing, you risk tooth enamel damage that can increase your risk for cavities and sensitive teeth.

How to Take Care of Your Smile With Oral Piercings

It’s important to always follow your piercer’s instructions for healing and jewelry wear—wearing jewelry that’s the inappropriate size for your piercing can cause even more damage! Whether you have oral piercings or not, your dentist can help protect your smile.

Your oral health problems can be treated, especially if caught early. With regular checkups, your dentist can spot gum recession and enamel damage early on to help you overcome these issues that can cause long-term damage to your smile!

Sources:
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3259306/
2. https://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/az-topics/o/oral-piercings
3. http://www.ijohsjournal.org/temp/IntJOralHealthSci3284-8521243_234012.pdf

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But how often do you need to change your electric toothbrush head? Here’s how often you
should replace this essential part of your electric toothbrush and why it’s so important.

Every Three to Four Months

Surprise! Just like a regular toothbrush, approximately every three months is still the standard
for it to be swapped out. The benefit of having an electric toothbrush is that only the head
needs to be replaced, not the entire toothbrush.

Dentists recommend to change your toothbrush head every three or four months with regular
use, although there are certain circumstances under which your toothbrush head will need to
be changed sooner.

When Should I Replace It Sooner?

Your electric toothbrush head will need to be replaced sooner if you have tooth decay or gum
disease and have received treatment for it.

For example, if you’ve recently had a cavity filled or received a deep cleaning for gum disease,
your dentist may advise you to swap out your toothbrush head. This is important because the
bacteria that caused your tooth decay and gum disease may still be present on your
toothbrush, so switching it out for a new head can provide you with a clean start.

You may also choose to replace your toothbrush head sooner if you’ve been sick in an effort to
not re-introduce bacteria back into your body. And, of course, you should always replace your
electric toothbrush head if someone else used your toothbrush in order to not exchange
bacteria!

Why You Need to Change Your Electric Toothbrush Head

Changing your electric toothbrush head is important for several reasons. With regular use, the
bristles can become frayed or worn out, which can actually damage gum tissue and cause
bleeding or infection. Even if you can’t see the wear on your toothbrush, it’s still a good idea to
change the head as recommended, as the wear can’t always be seen.

Another reason to change your toothbrush head is because of bacteria build up, especially if
you’re not properly storing your toothbrush. Keeping your toothbrush in a moist, enclosed
environment such as a case, a medicine cabinet, or an area with poor air circulation can keep
your toothbrush moist between uses and encourage bacteria growth.

Ideally, you want to keep your toothbrush in well ventilated area where it can dry out between
uses to prevent bacteria growth and keep your smile healthy. Regardless, changing the head
every few months helps eliminate the risk of bacterial contamination!

You can make swapping out your electric toothbrush head easy by keeping a spare head
nearby. Many electric toothbrush starter kits come with at least one replacement head to get
you started. By replacing your electric toothbrush head every three to four months, you can
keep your brush effective at doing its job to keep your smile clean and healthy!

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Gold has many advantages for restoring teeth: it’s biocompatible, meaning there’s an extremely small chance the body would react to it. It’s not considered to be toxic to the body, resists corrosion, and is durable and versatile.

Although the demand for gold used in dentistry has dwindled, it’s still used today. When is gold used for smiles?

For Smaller Cavities

The use of pure gold in dentistry is rare; typically, it’s mixed with other metals to form what’s called gold alloy. However, pure gold is occasionally used for very small cavities in the mouth. Gold fillings also last the longest of all the filling materials available. As a result of this and other factors, gold tends to be one of the more expensive materials used to restore teeth, so gold isn’t as popular today when there are other dental filling materials available that are less noticeable and less expensive.

Inlays and Onlays

Gold alloy, which is a mixture of gold with other metals including silver, copper, and zinc, is used for inlays and onlays in large cavities.

When tooth decay is too extensive to support a normal filling but not extensive enough for a dental crown, your dentist may use an inlay or an onlay to restore the tooth. Both of these treat larger cavities without dental crowns, appearing as something between a crown and a filling.

While an inlay typically covers the space at the center of the tooth, an onlay may cover the additional sides of the tooth in addition to the center. Onlays are sometimes called partial crowns because of their extensive coverage.

Dental Crowns

Gold alloy may also be used for dental crowns. There are numerous advantages to using gold for a dental crown as opposed to ceramic:

 Gold seals very well, reducing the chance that bacteria would affect your tooth.

 Gold requires the smallest amount of healthy tooth tissue to be removed compared to other materials when placing the crown.

 Gold is very resistant to corrosion and wear, giving it the potential to last for decades.

 Patients tolerate gold very well and tend to not react to it.

Although gold dental crowns are generally only reserved for teeth that are in the back of the mouth, some people don’t mind having a noticeable gold tooth and will opt for a gold crown in the front of their mouth.

Gold certainly has its advantages when used in modern dentistry, although it’s not as popular today as it was even decades ago. Dentists still use gold for the appropriate applications in dentistry to help protect and restore teeth, especially for fillings, inlays and onlays, and dental crowns.

If you’re curious about the advantages of using gold to restore your smile, talk to your dentist about why this material would be used and if it’s right for you!

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Reduce Injury Risk – A custom mouthguard is less likely to bruise or cut your face when you take a hit than a store-bought guard. Custom guards also reduce the risk of jaw dislocation, tooth loss, and neck injury. The guard acts as a buffer during impact so that the teeth do not puncture soft tissue or each other. The force of a hit is redistributed to cause minimal or no damage to the teeth and jaw. Perhaps one of the most important functions of the guard is to protect against concussions that can cause brain damage and potentially end an athlete’s career. The guard does this by absorbing much of the shock caused by the jaws being slammed together.

Designed for Comfort – Custom guards feel better than generic guards. This increases the likelihood that a player will actually wear the guard and be protected from injury. This is vital because one study showed players without a mouthpiece are 60 times as likely to suffer an injury to their teeth.

Improve Performance – Custom guards do not affect speech or breathing like a generic guard might. This allows an athlete to communicate effectively with teammates. It also allows the athlete to get the oxygen needed for optimal gameplay. Breathing properly allows a player to perform better and last longer.

The benefits of a custom fit sports mouthguard are clear. You get better protection than you would from a store bought mouthguard. The custom fit also encourages use of the guard because it is comfortable and does not affect gameplay like a poor fitting guard might.

Because of the dangers of playing without a guard, we encourage all athletes to have a custom fit guard made as soon as possible. If you are currently using a store bought guard, it is time to up your game and give your neck, head, and mouth more protection by upgrading to custom fit.

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