Eli5: if there are a ton of harmful bacteria in every persons mouth, why is it relatively safe to give/receive oral when genitalia is so sensitive to foreign bacteria?
In: 4241
We are literally swimming through a sea of particulate matter, spores, bacteria, viruses and the detritus of all. You are not infected by any one (or one thousand) pathogen, you loose a battle in a never-ending war and succumb to overwhelming numbers.
As others have mentioned, our bodies have natural defenses. The vagina is slightly acidic, making it less than ideal for bacteria and the like to make a full assault. Nothing is perfect, however, and this is why it is always recommended to pee after sexual activity (males too!) as it helps flush the urethra of bacteria, thus preventing a UTI.
It’s not relatively safe unless you are practicing good hygiene.
Clean before, clean after, then it’s pretty safe even though our mouths are incredibly nasty with bacteria.
It’s not always safe. Like everything else out there regarding sexual activity, most folks don’t know the risk until something happens to them. Sex ed is woefully inadequate these days.
Location, natural habitat, and pathogenicity all matter.
Fuck, *tap water* isnt anywhere near *sterile* but you can drink it because it has been treated to remove the vast majority of harmful organisms. Injecting it straight into your bloodstream is a wonderfully bad idea however.
Tap water isnt inherently pathogenic, but once you introduce it somewhere where it *isnt supposed to be* well, that can go badly.
Likewise, your entire digestive system is colonized with its own natural flora, but if something that lives in your butt gets to your stomach because you like to eat poop, that can go badly because that critter doesnt belong there.
This extends to a whole array of problems, IE stab wounds, gunshot trauma, aspirating stomach contents, etc
Not sure what you mean by relatively safe. If that were true there wouldn’t be all the STIs you can get just from oral sex.
I mean think about it. If you eat lettuce you might get sick from one of a few viruses, germs, bacteria. And odds are it’s gone in a couple days and that’s that. Munching the nethers can give you **cancer** or warts or a whole bunch of permanent and semi permanent stuff.
So I wouldn’t say it’s safe at all. But it’s fun so a lot of us aren’t as safe as we could be.
The bacteria in your mouth can cause harm depending on your diet and personal hygiene habits. They are also specialized at living in this environment and prevent harmful bacteria from taking residence in this nutrient rich environment. Along these lines – most of the time, most of the bacteria in your mouth are protective, not harmful.
It’s a similar story with the vaginal microbiology. Specially adapted, usually protective.
When you swap bugs from one environment to another they don’t do well. It would be like plunking a lion down in the Arctic.
Source: PhD Microbiologist, working in Oral Care 10+ years.
This belongs in a sub where someone with an education in the subject can explain it to you like r/AskBiology but I’m a fermentation nerd with a bit of background so let me take a whack at it:
Not all bacteria are harmful, some are downright helpful and some are benign in some circumstances, helpful in others and harmful in others. Take, for example, lactobacillus. That’s a genus bacteria that is so common that when you want to cultivate it, you leave a substrate out and it just sorta happens. Luckily, lacto is one of those benign bacteria, and is even a little bit helpful in that if it grows in food it makes the food acidic, which inhibits other microbes from growing. This is how we get salt fermented foods like giardinera or pickalilly, sour beers and sourdough bread. It also forms helpful colonies in the body where that tendency to create a hostile environment for harmful microbes leads to a symbiotic relationship (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus). Tldr/eli5 – sometimes bacteria are bros and we need them, and these in particular are just *everywhere* including the mouth.
Now let’s look at e coli. Did you know that you’ve got a strong e coli colony in your body right now? We all do, in the lower bowel where it’s contained and safe. E coli only becomes a problem when it gets into the upper digestive system, but if it gets into the upper digestive system (usually via contaminated food) it’s a devastating problem.
Finally, clostridium dificile. Known in medical circles as c diff, this bacteria is just ridiculously harmful and so hard to deal with that it’s latin name translates to “difficult”. C diff is harmful in all circumstances.
Finally, let’s think a little bit: if you had an active infection of harmful bacteria in your mouth, don’t you think you’d notice?
I don’t know who told you it’s safe, because it’s really not, you’re taking a chance every time
People need to learn all STI’s can be contracted in the mouth: Chlamydia, herpes, HPV that causes cervical cancer can cause tongue cancer. Be careful out there.
Latest Answers