A woman developed a serious infection one week after piercing her tongue, demonstrating one of the risks of the procedure, according to experts.

People who choose to pierce their tongues “are getting a medical procedure done by a non-licensed professional,” Dr. Melvin K. Pierson, spokesperson for the Academy of General Dentistry, told Reuters Health.

Pierson explained that anytime people undergo dental procedures, they open themselves up to life-threatening infections from mouth-dwelling bacteria.

And if people have a history of heart defects, they are at risk of endocarditis, a particularly serious infection that spreads to the heart. Consequently, their doctors or dentists will often give them antibiotics before tooth cleanings and other oral procedures, Pierson said.

A tongue piercing should be treated no differently than any other dental procedure, Pierson argued, and people who are planning to get one should first visit a dentist or doctor to determine if they need antibiotics beforehand.

“If the public is going to get a tongue piercing, they should be evaluated by a professional,” he said in an interview.

Research has shown that tongue piercing increases the risk of another potentially deadly infection known as Ludwig’s angina in which the jaw swells, sometimes to the point of closing off the windpipe. In addition, according to the National Institutes of Health, piercing can transmit hepatitis B, C, D and G.

In the journal General Dentistry, Dr. William J. Dunn and Dr. Teresa Reeves of the Lackland Air Force Base in Texas describe the case of a young woman whose pierced tongue had become inflamed and was oozing pus. She was also having trouble speaking and swallowing.

The doctors removed the barbell inserted into her tongue, cleaned the wound and gave her a course of antibiotics. Two weeks later, she had healed.

Although the woman featured in this report sought help for her infection, many newly-pierced people may not because they are told to expect a certain amount of soreness and swelling from the procedure, and do not recognize what is abnormal, said Pierson, who was not an author of the study.

Consequently, “anyone who goes in for a piercing can have these two severe medical problems (endocarditis and Ludwig’s angina), and won’t know it,” Pierson warned.

He added that the same risks of tongue piercing apply to any type of oral piercing, such as the cheeks and lips.

Dunn and his co-author also advise anyone planning to pierce their tongues to make sure that their piercing parlor uses disposable or sterile needles and sterile gloves.

SOURCE: General Dentistry, May/June 2004.