Sexual heath:Is oral sex dangerous to the cookie jar?

What may seem as a harmless indulgence to calm down ravisher and cool bedroom fountains may be very dangerous.

Cunnilingus, the act of stimulating the vagina using the mouth (or parts of the mouth), is not a healthy practice according to Dr Ben Omondi, a dentist at the Nelson Awori Centre. ?

Different parts of the body, he says, contain different strains and species of bacteria. What is healthy for one part of the body is not necessarily healthy for other parts of the body.

Well, as it turns out, the human body is a cornucopia of microbes. The mouth is teeming with millions.

"Bacteria from the mouth can be dangerously infective in the vagina," he says, "and vice versa."

For instance, Dr Omondi says, a microorganism safely living in the gut can cause a serious infection in in the vagina.

But in case a couple love enjoying oral sex, Valentine says, it is better that they start with it before penetration occurs. "Penetration causes micro cuts in the vagina and hence makes it easy for germs to pass through and makes it easy for mouth bacteria to cause infection," she says.

The most transmissible infection between the mouth and the vagina, says Dr Omondi, is Candida, a fungal infection that infects the two organ systems.

Woo unto you if your partner is a HPV career in the mouth. Valentine says: "Some strains of HPV will survive in the mouth, if transmitted into the vagina, there is high potential that the virus will cause cervical cancer.