Department of Restorative and Operative Dentistry, Dental School, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
J Adolesc Health. 2011 Jul;49(1):76-83. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.10.008. Epub 2011 Jan 15.
Biofilms on oral piercings may serve as a bacterial reservoir and lead to systemic bacteremia or local transmission of pathogenic microbiota. The use of piercing materials which are less susceptible to biofilm accumulation could contribute to prevention of problems. The present study investigated whether there are microbiological differences in bacterial samples collected from tongue piercings made of different materials.
A total of 85 subjects with tongue piercings participated in this study. After a baseline dental examination, sterile piercings of four different materials were randomly allocated to the study subjects. After 2 weeks, microbiologic samples were collected and processed by checkerboard deoxyribonucleic acid- deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization methods.
About 28.8% of subjects reported 61 lingual recessions (1.91 ± .96 mm), whereas 5% reported tooth chipping on one tooth each. With the exception of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (Y4), Fusobacterium nucleatum species, and Parvimonas micra, bacteria associated with periodontitis were not commonly found in the samples from studs or piercing channels. Of the 80 bacterial species, 67 were found at significantly higher levels (p < .001) in samples from stainless steel than from polytetrafluoroethylene or polypropylene piercings.
The low bacterial counts from piercing channels suggest that having a tongue pierced would not contribute to an increased risk for oral infection. The present study demonstrated that studs made of steel might promote the development of a biofilm, whereas those made of polytetrafluoroethylene or polypropylene may be rather inert to bacterial colonization. The finding of Staphylococci on steel and titanium studs may suggest an elevated risk for complication if the piercing channel is infected.
口腔穿刺部位的生物膜可能充当细菌库，导致全身菌血症或局部传播致病性微生物群。使用不易积聚生物膜的穿刺材料可能有助于预防问题。本研究调查了不同材料制成的舌穿刺中收集的细菌样本是否存在微生物学差异。
共有 85 名舌穿刺受试者参与了这项研究。在基线牙科检查后，将四种不同材料的无菌穿刺随机分配给研究对象。2 周后，收集微生物样本并通过斑点杂交脱氧核糖核酸-脱氧核糖核酸杂交方法进行处理。
约 28.8%的受试者报告有 61 个舌侧退缩（1.91 ±.96 毫米），而 5%的受试者每颗牙报告有牙碎。除放线共生放线杆菌（Y4）、核梭杆菌物种和微小消化链球菌外，与牙周病相关的细菌在 stud 或穿刺通道的样本中并不常见。在 80 种细菌中，有 67 种在不锈钢样本中发现的水平显著更高（p <.001），而在聚四氟乙烯或聚丙烯穿刺样本中发现的水平显著更低。
穿刺通道中的低细菌计数表明，舌穿刺不会增加口腔感染的风险。本研究表明，钢制 stud 可能促进生物膜的形成，而聚四氟乙烯或聚丙烯制 stud 可能对细菌定植相当惰性。钢和钛制 stud 上葡萄球菌的发现可能表明如果穿刺通道感染，并发症的风险增加。
