People often suspect they havechlamydiawhen they get genital and urinary tract symptoms like painful urination or vaginal discharge.
If there are symptoms, the primary one tends to be a sore throat.
This symptom can be confused with any number of other conditions, fromallergiesandcoldstostrep throatandacid reflux.
Illustration by Sydney Saporito for Verywell Health
Oral chlamydia can take anywhere from one to three weeks to show up after sexual contact.
This is another reason why many don’t make the connection between their symptoms and this infection.
How Bad Is Oral Chlamydia?
Oral chlamydia can sometimes lead to secondary oral infections.
Dental pain, bleeding gums, and tooth loss are among the complications of these diseases.
Arguably, the bigger concern is that people with oral chlamydia are able to pass the infection to others.
These are the very cells that HIV targets for infection.
Because of this, chlamydia ends up “helping” HIV establish an infection.
Causes
A person can get oral chlamydia by performing oral sex on someone who is infected.
This includes oral-penile sex, oral-vaginal sex, and oral-anal sex.
All current evidence indicates chlamydia cannot be passed through kissing.
NAAT swabs can also be used on the vagina, cervix, or rectum.
In addition, NAAT technology is used to detectChlamydia trachomatisin a urine sample.
Testing for chlamydia outside of the genitals or rectum is not a routine part ofSTI screening.
This accounts for why oral STIs often go undiagnosed and untreated.
If you have been diagnosed with chlamydia, all sexual partners need to be informed and treated.
Repeated infections are common when this does not occur.
Chlamydia reinfection increases the risk of complications such as PID and ectopic pregnancy.
Prevention
Abstinence is the only way to avoid oral chlamydia completely.
Barring that, you could lower your risk by reducing your number of sex partners.
Usingcondomsordental damsconsistently can also reduce the risk of either passing or getting an STI like chlamydia.
This not only includes external (male) condoms but also internal (female) condoms.
These groups include:
Summary
Oral chlamydia shows up when theChlamydia trachomatisbacteria infects the mouth.
you’re free to get oral chlamydia through oral sex.
It is the same bacteria that causes chlamydia in the genitals or anus.
The bacteria can be detected by testing a sample of fluid collected during an oral swab.
Antibiotics are needed to treat the infection.
Without them, oral chlamydia can lead to secondary mouth infections, dental pain, and gum disease.
More importantly, people with undiagnosed oral chlamydia can pass the infection to others.
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