Can Dentists Tell If You've Been Giving Head?

In general, whether or not you’ve recently given head is information shared exclusively between you, the recipient, and only any such others as you choose to clue in. If you wake up, perform oral sex on a partner, then casually stroll into work, your coworkers won’t be able to tell how you spent your morning just by looking at you. If, on the other hand, you wake up, perform oral sex on a partner, then stroll into the dentist’s office and open wide, your dentist might be able to tell what you were up to.

This potentially unsettling revelation comes to us from whence most information does these days: TikTok, where various oral health experts have recently posted videos confirming a rumor that’s been swirling on the platform regarding dentists’ ability to tell if you’ve had a certain sex organ in your mouth recently.

According to a video posted by dentist Huzefa Kapadia, dentists can sometimes tell if a patient has recently performed oral sex on a penis-having partner thanks to a little thing called palatal petechiae, bruising of the soft-palate that can occur with frequent or aggressive oral sex. According to Kapadia, it’s unlikely that a single oral sex session would result in the tell-tale sign, but if, for example, “you like to suck on multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple lollipops all the time … you got a problem,” he explained in the video, swapping in candy as a PG euphemism.

“Sometimes we can tell,” orthodontist Brad Podray said in another viral TikTok video addressing the rumor. “It’s usually bruising on the soft palate called petechiae. But unless the patient’s really young or shows signs of abuse, we don’t care.”

Dental hygienist and TikTok user @MandiMaeee also chimed in to the oral sex dentistry discourse, explaining that while a dentist isn’t going to be able to tell whether or not you’ve ever done the deed just by looking at your mouth, performing recent or intense fellatio might leave you vulnerable to detection. “To say that I’d be able to tell if you did it three years ago? No,” she said in the video. “But if you did it recently and you were a little bit aggressive about it … Some individuals might have, um, bruising to the palate, if you know what I’m saying. So yes, we can tell.”

It’s important to note that none of this really matters. What kind of sex you’re having when and with whom is none of your dentist’s business, and they probably don’t care at all. But if you’d rather not head into an appointment with the tell-tale sign of any recent performances you may have given, maybe consider going easy on the oral for a few days in advance of your next cleaning.