If you are thinking about getting a lip piercing in the near future, you need to consider the impact that decision will have on your teeth. Indeed, lip piercings are about much more than a cool metal accessory you can add to your face. They can do a lot of serious damage to your smile that you may not realize is coming your way. In the information below, we will discuss how lip piercings hurt teeth so you can avoid a major mistake for your oral health.
Tooth Chipping
The most common side effect of getting a lip piercing is chipping your tooth. Most lip rings have balls that act as the inner component of them. These balls will rub over the outside of your teeth and may chip them over time. This is most likely to happen when you first get our lip pierced because your lip will swell up around the piercing. Any major hit to the mouth you take in the future will also turn into a potential hazard for your teeth. If you play sports or work in an injury-prone environment, having a lip piercing would not be a good idea for your body as a whole.
Gum Recession
Gum recession can happen if your lip piercing is not put in the right place. If the piercing is placed too low or too high, the backing of the ring will rub against your gums as you talk or chew. This can become painful if you are wearing flat backed jewelry because the backing will scrape up on the gums like sand paper at that point. Ball shaped backings can be just as bad. If you already have gum issues, this is certainly not a concern you want to add on to your life.
Enamel Erosion
Your lip ring may also wear down your enamel over time, which will cause you to experience the pain of dental sensitivity and exposed nerves. If you think your teeth are sensitive now, this will make them far worse. Enamel cannot rebuild itself. The only way you can correct this issue is to go to the dentist for special work. This can be expensive, painful, and incredibly time consuming. Is your lip ring worth that in the end?
Consider all of these concerns when you decide to get a facial piercing, and choose to put it somewhere other than your lip. You may not get the exact look you want, but you will be able to preserve your smile for the future.
