While some of that could be contributed to unhealthy lifestyle habits, the transmission of human papilloma virus from a woman’s lady parts to a guy’s mouth could also be to blame. One recent study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases found that the risk of oral HPV infection among 409, 18 to 25 year-olds, risk significantly increased with the number of oral sexual partners guys had. The researchers found that the more women a guy went down on in a three month span, the more likely he was to have contract HPV.
But dental dams are just as effective as condoms for protecting against STIs, like gonorrhea, syphilis, and HPV, says Kerner. Even though only about one percent of his patients use them, he says dental dams are a great way to promote safe sex, especially with those who have it casually.
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To find out what it’s really like to use a dental dam during oral, we found three women who use them on a reg to tell us how they use it, what it feels like, and why you shouldn’t be afraid to try it.
“I started using dental dams right after I became sexually active in college. My then-partner and I were very conscious of safer sex practices, and it was easy to get dental dams for free from my college’s health center. I identify as bisexual and my then partner was male, but I like that dams can be used with a variety of partners. I don’t love the taste of latex, but I like that it allows me to practice safer sex beyond just birth control and condoms.” —Anonymous
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“Dental dams have been a part of my sexual repertoire ever since I started going to kinky play parties at 19. I was interested in being sexually adventurous, but I was also educated about the risks. Dams became part of my hookup tool kit alongside gloves and condoms. I mostly used them for oral sex with people who were more acquaintances than friends and whenever I did analingus. Sometimes at the parties I had lovers with herpes or HPV, and we’d use dental dams as a risk-reduction technique. I like the feeling of dams. Latex feels nice, and it’s great if I want to use a slippery lube that I don’t want to taste. It’s true that a dam does put a barrier in terms of taste and smell, but I believe there are ways to make it feel erotic while still having safer sex, like using tease and denial, for example.” —Kitty S.
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“I’ve used dental dams on myself to protect both me and my partner when having casual sex. People seem to think dental dams will stifle the feeling of oral, but they totally don’t! The material warms up to your body temperature and still feels great. It is a little different than receiving oral without protection, but the experience is still pleasurable. Overall, using a dental dam is empowering! I feel like I have some real control over the protection being used.” —Kayla S.