The Impact of Material on Microbiota in Association With Tongue and Lip Piercing

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01039259

Enrollment

170

Registered

2009-12-24

Start date

2008-08-31

Completion date

2009-02-28

Last updated

2009-12-24

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Bacteremia

Keywords

adolescent, body piercing/adverse effects, tongue piercing, tongue/microbiology

Brief summary

Biofilms on oral piercings may serve as a bacterial reservoir and lead to systemic bacteraemia or local transmission of periopathogenic microbiota. The investigators hypothesize that there are microbiological differences in bacterial samples collected from tongue /or lip piercings made of different materials. The investigators also hypothesize that the piercings carry the same characteristic bacteria as found in the piercing channels and that independently the biofilm on the tongue/adjacent teeth is similar to the other study locations. 85 subjects with tongue and 85 subjects with lip piercing will participate. Periodontal clinical parameters, traumata of hard tissues, and characteristics of the stud are evaluated. Sterile piercings of four different materials will be randomly allocated to the study subjects. After two weeks, microbiologic samples are collected and are processed by checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization methods.

Interventions

DEVICEpiercings of four different materials

randomly assigned sterile piercings are inserted for two weeks

Study design

Observational model

CASE_CONTROL

Time perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

16 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* lip/tongue piercing for at least six month in situ

Exclusion criteria

* pregnancy and lactating women * medication with known effects on gingival tissues * antibiotic medication in the last six months or need for antibiotic prophylaxis * chlorhexidine use in the last six months * non-plaque induced gingival disease * prior diagnosis of periodontitis

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
microbiologic findings of piercing samples	2 weeks

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
microbiologic findings in piercing channels, microbiologic findings on the tongue/adjacent teeth	2 weeks

Countries

Austria

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026