# Safe sex and dental torture **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 13, 1999, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076 "1999-10-13T19:54:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JoltSucker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@JoltSucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoltSucker)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/1 "1999-10-13T19:54:00Z")
I’ve got a question that’s been rolling in my head for years. Years ago, we got our first safe sex lecture by a Red Cross nurse at work. It was quite amusing to watch staid business types talk about sexually explicit stuff, especially since we had also suffered through countless hours of sexual harrassment awareness training, where we were told we couldn’t talk about that stuff at work… Anyway, the question came up about oral sex, and the nurse said that the only way to have safe oral sex was for the giving party to use a dental dam. I didn’t have a clue what the hell a dental dam was until I got a tooth filled by a dentist who decided my mouth was too moist to handle, so he put one in while he worked. As far as I could tell at the time, it was a big rigid latex oval that he had to vigorously force around the tooth he was working on. My question is, geez, if I want to blow my loved one safely, do I need to see the dentist first??? By the way, I asked this nurse about the safety of diddling one’s partner. She responded that hands can get little microscopic cuts on them, and that the only way to safely diddle someone was to wear latex gloves. So great – visit the dentist, strap on the condom and the rubber gloves, and you’ll be a real sex machine… “Come here honey, don’t let the smell of latex put you off, I’m ready for anything!” Actually, with a dental dam it’s more like “Cmmm hhrehnnnuddnnlllsnlpttuff”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/2 "1999-10-13T20:19:00Z")
Is there a question in there somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/3 "1999-10-13T20:22:00Z")
Oh! There it is. In the middle. If your partner is male, a condom will do. If your partner is female, any sheet of latex large enough to cover the area of interest will suffice. ## p.s. If you go to the dentist’s office and ask for a dental dam they will probably give you one. They might charge you for it but my guess is they will enjoy your embarassment so much they’ll give it to you for free. Do you think they won’t know why you want it? “The inability of science to grasp Quality, as an object of enquiry, makes it impossible for science to provide a scale of values.” Robert Pirsig ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/4 "1999-10-13T20:27:00Z")
I believe a big piece of Saran Wrap is sufficient protection for performing oral sex on a female. Plus, it doesn’t smell like latex. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/5 "1999-10-13T22:10:00Z")
I can’t believe it’s much fun for anyone to lick a big piece of plastic wrap, no matter what it’s wrapping. I might as well stick a piece of liver in a Ziplock bag and lick it. Likewise for the receiving end. And I hope you didn’t use the word ‘diddle’ to the nurse 😉 * * * “I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/6 "1999-10-13T23:15:00Z")
And this is why I always make sure that my partner is tested as 100% disease-free before we do anything. Latex. Yummy. Wanna just cuddle for a while? ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/7 "1999-10-14T00:32:00Z")
neuro-trash Im glad someone else also insists on partners getting tested…It’s still not 100% (cause of that three month wait period) but its the best one can do at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/8 "1999-10-14T00:34:00Z")
JoltSucker, isn’t it nice that a nurse actually cares to tell people the truth? Still, one should have a piece of paper stating they don’t have any STD’s before getting so horny/drunk that they don’t think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/9 "1999-10-14T05:59:00Z")
I couldn’t even FATHOM using a dental dam. I mean, the whole point is to savor the wonderful taste, smell and texture while kneeling at the altar of your partners love! Oh sure, she enjoys it too, I guess… FWIW, experts have decided that the odds of transmission from female to male whilest doing this in even the worst scenerio - woman has menses, guy has a cold sore - is insanely remote. The guy passing it to the woman in this manner is statistically irrelevant as well. Still, if you take a “take no chances” attitude, I wouldn’t laugh at you… * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/10 "1999-10-14T08:28:00Z")
As far as I know, there are exactly zero recorded cases of AIDS virus transmission between lesbian partners, even though many of them do a lot more than oral sex. It’s also hard to tramsmit the AIDS virus through heterosexual vaginal sex. There are lots of cases of people who have been married for years while one partner was HIV+ without knowing it, and the other partner didn’t contract it even though they engaged in regular unprotected sex. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/11 "1999-10-14T15:45:00Z")
dhanson, of course. Think about it, very few Lesbians have HIV. I mean they aren’t a large needle user group & most are not bisexual, so where are they to get the virus? Some do have it though. ALl the lesbians I have talked to are well versed in using saran wrap --far more than their het counterparts. ---
**Author:** ![StrTrkr777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@StrTrkr777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrTrkr777)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/12 "1999-10-14T16:05:00Z")
I got to agree with the ealier poster who said that I would not want to lick plastic. That is why I like my marriage. Same person, no worries. We can have all the fun we want. Jeffery ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 1999, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/13 "1999-10-15T15:27:00Z")
Marriage is no guarantee you won’t get HIV. IE: Magic Johnson. Sat., so tell us, what precautions did you take to make sure you didn’t catch/give STD’s from/to your latest love, you stud muffin, you. ---
**Author:** ![JoltSucker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@JoltSucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoltSucker)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 1999, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/14 "1999-10-15T15:32:00Z")
Yeah, I appreciated the nurse telling the naked ( 😉 ) truth. You hear it so rarely these days, especially about sex. I’m with whoever said it, licking SaranWrap is kind of beside the point, it’s the smell, taste and touch that I like about cunnilingus (that, and peeling my wife off the ceiling…), and plastic puts a stop to all that. But my real question about dental dams is how in the world does one put it in and use it, especially since my dentist (see the original message) had to put real elbow grease in fitting it over one of my teeth? ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 1999, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/15 "1999-10-15T16:09:00Z")
handy: I am tested and my love is tested. She is on the pill. We are now monogamous. No, I don’t recommend this for everyone, but I was pretty careful when i wasn’t monogamous… ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 1999, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/16 "1999-10-15T22:16:00Z")
Maybe I’m out of it, but what do latex gloves and your hands have to do with “diddling one’s partner”? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 1999, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/17 "1999-10-16T01:13:00Z")
handy posted 10-14-1999 10:45 AM > [@](#): > > dhanson, of course. Think about it, very few Lesbians have HIV. I mean they aren’t a large needle user group & most are not bisexual, so where are they to get the virus? Gay men aren’t a large needle user group and most aren’t bisexual, so how do they get HIV? Saying that lesbians don’t get HIV because leabians don’t have HIV isn’t very informative. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 1999, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/18 "1999-10-16T15:46:00Z")
Newsflash: Gay men have anal sex, which is like direct needle insertion of any & all viruses. Say, if you didn’t notice, lesbians don’t do that sort of thing, but with their fingers or a dildo, neither of which inject HIV. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 1999, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/19 "1999-10-17T02:58:00Z")
Frankly, I would prefer Saran Wrap than getting HIV. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 1999, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076/20 "1999-10-19T05:25:00Z")
Not all gay men have anal sex, Handy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/safe-sex-and-dental-torture/4076.md?page=2)