Kissing with (Potentially Damaged) Mouth Ulcer

[jsmith112]

Dear Doctors,

First a quick note of thanks for the service you provide here; it’s great to be able to get advice directly from experts such as yourselves. I’m a health-conscious heterosexual British male in my twenties in the UK, and have consulted your replies to others in the past and applied that advice to situations I’ve experienced to help determine various risk factors in different (sexual and non-sexual) experiences. So again, thank you for this resource.

I understand that there is generally no need to worry about HIV and/or hepatitis from kissing. Last weekend I kissed a girl with what I’d say were normal common mouth ulcers, one on my lip and one on the underside my tongue. I can't remember for sure, but I may have also bit my tongue around (before or after) the time of the kiss. She is also from the UK but is fairly well travelled; I can’t remember exactly where she has been but I believe she spent some time in South America.

I can’t remember for sure if it was before or after the kiss, but at some point I squeezed the ulcer on my lip, and I believe the white-ish top came off it. Either way there was a bit of blood came from it. Obviously if it was after the kiss that doesn’t matter.

I’d have said the kiss lasted around half a minute to a minute, and wasn’t particularly deep – I think we touched tongues around a couple of times. I didn’t notice that she had any bleeding or ulcers or anything like that.

Do I have anything to worry about (HIV, hepatitis, other diseases) and should I go and see anyone, or is this one of those ‘you’re more likely to die in an aeroplane crash than have got infected with anything’ queries and I am just being over-cautious?

Best regards,

John

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Correct.  EWH

[jsmith112]

Thank you doctor.

To check I fully understand - there's no meaningful risk for non-lesion diseases such as hepatitis and HIV, and therefore I should not worry?

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Correct.  The only STDs for which there might be any meaningful risk whatsoever are the so called lesion diseases such as syphilis and herpes.  If your partner does not have sores that you can see, then there is no reason for concern.  On your part the presence of  in inflamed taste bud, cut or sore inside your mouth does not change the virtually non-existent risk for infection.  

Take care. EWH

[jsmith112]

Thank you for your answer Dr Hook - that completely puts my mind at rest for the incident.

I've since read in some of your replies to other forum users advising not to worry about cuts and/or sores while kissing, so I apologise as my query was (at least in part) probably in duplicate.

Looking to derive a general rule; is there any departure from '100% perfection' in terms of a healthy mouth that would be a cause for STD-transmission concern for any type of kissing, or for unprotected cunnilingus? Of course I imagine fresh heavily bleeding cuts in the mouth would be an issue, but my question is about risks more subtle than this. I'm prompted to ask after a recent French kiss with what I believe was most likely to be an inflamed taste bud. I assume this isn't a risk either (please confirm).

Thank you again,

John

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum and yes, I did receive your additional comment which, as you predicted, does not change my assessment.  I’ll be pleased to comment and hope that you find my comments helpful.  This was a no risk event.

The mouth is among the most infection resistant sites on the body.  Most people are not aware that there is nowhere on the body where there are more bacteria present than the mouth.   Despite this, when one considers all of the trauma, cuts, pizza burns, effects of dental work, etc that regularly lead to  trauma to the mouth, it is remarkable that oral infections of any sort are so rare.  There are no reported cases of hepatitis or HIV that have been documented to result from kissing, nor is there any reason to worry about transfer of other STDs.

My advice in the setting you describe is to not worry.   It is my hope that my comments will help you to not do so.  EWH

[jsmith112]

Before you reply (not that I suppose it makes much difference), I should say that the tongue ulcer could be described as being both on the side and underside of the tongue, perhaps not just the underside! Please confirm you get this comment in your reply.