This post may contain affiliate links. This means we may earn a small commission if you purchase something from a link. This does not cost you any extra and helps us keep the lights on. Thank you!
Each dentist has their own preferences for their patients’ piercings while performing dental work. If you have any oral (lip, tongue, cheek, etc.) piercings or nostril piercings, you may want to ask the dentist before your appointment if you’ll need to remove them.
Some dentists request that you remove all oral/nasal piercings while work is being performed. Some dentists request that you remove only a tongue ring (if you have one) while they are working on you. Some dentists can work around all piercings.
As long as your piercing is fully healed, it is safe to remove and it will likely stay open long enough for your dental work as long as your replace the jewelry immediately afterwards.
Should You Take Your Oral Piercings Out at the Dentist?
It’s no secret that most dentists aren’t particularly fond of oral piercings. Many dentists will give you a lecture for having oral piercings. However, if you’re considering taking out your oral piercings to hide them from your dentist, you should reconsider.
Even well fitting oral piercings cause some tooth damage. If your dentist is aware of your piercings, they can take special care to look at the teeth around that piercing and make sure it’s not suffering too much wear and tear. Your dentist will likely be the first person to tell you if you need to change the length of your jewelry or swap to a safer material.
In some cases, your dentist will ask you to remove your piercing before the work begins. If you remove your piercing before your appointment, you should let them know you have a piercing and where it is during your check up.
Do You Have to Remove Piercings For X Rays?
Your dentist will request that you remove any piercings from the neck up for x rays. Metal can distort x rays so the dentist may not be able to see all of your teeth if you leave in any piercings during a dental x ray. This is especially important for oral and nasal piercings but includes ear piercings as well.
X rays only take a few minutes so as long as your piercings are fully healed, you’ll be able to take them out and replace them before the piercing hole shrinks. If you have a lot of piercings or if your piercings aren’t fully healed, you may want to visit your piercer and get your jewelry swapped to glass before your appointment. Glass is completely safe for even healing piercings and will not cause any issues with x rays.
Conclusion
Different dentists will have different preferences on which piercings to remove before they work on you, but it’s most likely that none of your piercings will get in the way and your dentist will simply work around them. However, if you’re getting x rays, you’ll need to remove any piercings above the neck or they will interfere with the visibility on the image. Or you can swap your piercing jewelry to glass as glass will not interfere with an x ray.
