Adolescents have specific needs pertaining to oral health in addition to the usual lifelong issues of caries management, sports injury prevention, and keeping up with dental visits. Teen years are a higher risk time for oral piercings, increased sugar intake, nicotine initiation, and orthodontic considerations.
Tongue Piercing
You might not be surprised anymore to see people with pierced tongues, lips or cheeks, but you might be surprised to know just how dangerous these piercings can be.
There are many risks involved with oral piercings, including chipped or cracked teeth, blood clots, blood poisoning, heart infections, brain abscess, nerve disorders (trigeminal neuralgia), receding gums or scar tissue. Your mouth contains millions of bacteria, and infection is a common complication of oral piercing. In extreme situations, your tongue could swell large enough to close off your airway!
Common symptoms after piercing include pain, swelling, infection, an increased flow of saliva and injuries to gum tissue. Difficult-to-control bleeding or nerve damage can result if a blood vessel or nerve bundle is in the path of the needle.
So follow the advice of the American Dental Association and give your mouth a break – skip the mouth jewelry.
Tobacco – Bad News in Any Form
Tobacco in any form can jeopardize your child’s health and cause incurable damage. Teaching your child about the dangers of tobacco is an ongoing challenge. Smokeless tobacco, also called spit, chew or snuff, is often used by teens who believe that it is a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes. This is an unfortunate misconception. Studies show that spit tobacco may be more addictive than smoking cigarettes and may be more difficult to quit. Teens who use it may be interested to know that one can of snuff per day delivers as much nicotine as 60 cigarettes. In as little as three to four months, smokeless tobacco use can cause periodontal disease and produce pre-cancerous white lesions called leukoplakias.
If your child is a tobacco user you should watch for the following that could be early signs of oral cancer:
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A sore that won’t heal.
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White or red leathery patches on the lips, and on or under the tongue.
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Pain, tenderness or numbness anywhere in the mouth or lips.
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Difficulty chewing, swallowing, speaking or moving the jaw or tongue; or a change in the way the teeth fit together.
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Because the early signs of oral cancer usually are not painful, people often ignore them. If it’s not caught in the early stages, oral cancer can require extensive, sometimes disfiguring, surgery. Even worse, it can kill.
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Help your child avoid tobacco in any form. By doing so, they will avoid bringing cancer-causing chemicals in direct contact with their tongue, gums and cheek.
Please call our office at 508-337-3307 with any questions or concerns about your teenager’s dental health. We will be happy to assist you!