Disinformation regarding orofacial piercing on social networks and its clinical implications for oral health

Abstract

Introduction: social media have transformed communication and aesthetic perception, but have also facilitated the spread of health disinformation. Orofacial piercing, presented as an attractive trend, often omits its clinical risks, a situation aggravated by users' lack of informational competences and the influence of the medicine of desire.

Objective: to analyze the relationship between social media, orofacial piercing and the medicine of desire, as well as the implications of insufficient informational competences as a cause of health disinformation.

Development: a bibliographic review was carried out from February to August 2025 in the SciELO, Dialnet, PubMed and Google Scholar databases, complemented with grey literature. Twenty-five references were selected. The analysis shows that digital platforms prioritize attractive visual content over medical evidence, while algorithms and neuromarketing commodify body image. The medicine of desire, aimed at satisfying aesthetic demands, faces ethical dilemmas by prioritizing individual desires over therapeutic criteria. The lack of skills to critically evaluate sources leads to decisions based on incomplete information, increasing the risks of infections, dental injuries and distrust towards health systems. Strategies are proposed to identify biases and foster digital literacy.

Final considerations: disinformation about orofacial piercing on social media requires strengthening informational competences from an early age. Only through critical and responsible education will users be able to differentiate truthful from misleading content, avoid unsafe practices and reduce vulnerability to commercial aesthetic narratives.