Condoms for oral sex?

[Kittens]

Hey there,

My boyfriend and I are in a committed monogamous relationship and both don't have any STIs. He got tested after his last partner and was clean, and hasn't been with anyone since, besides me. A couple months ago I got tested and I'm clean as well. (I am going to ask him to get tested again since we have had sex, just in case.) Also, I have my HPV vaccines as well.

Anyways, we always use condoms for things like vaginal sex, and I'm on birth control too. But we've never used condoms for oral sex, because well we both are pretty certain that we don't have STIs and I'm protected from a lot of the things that are transmitted through it because of my HPV vaccine. I asked my doctor about it and she said that it wasn't the biggest deal as long as none of us have mouth sores, and that if there are any mouth sores there should be no genital to mouth contact at all. Honestly, I know I wouldn't like having any barrier between us, the whole thing with fluids is both a thing that we enjoy and cherish. So, given all of this, is it bad that we don't use condoms for oral sex? I just read some articles that said you should never, ever have unprotected oral sex so I was wondering if we're seriously compromising each others safety by doing this.

[Karyn]

Ideally, you want to use barriers until both of you have had two clear screenings six months apart, just because it takes a while for some STIs to show up on a test. But, if you're comfortable with the level of risk - and it is likely low here - then it's up to you whether or not you want to use condoms for oral sex. Just a note on the HPV vaccine though; all it protects you from is what it says on the label: HPV. It doesn't offer any protection from anything else.

(FYI, we're not fans of using the word "clean" around here, just because it implies that people with STIs are dirty, which isn't the case.)

[Kittens]

Okay, that makes since, thank you for the advice! And I have a version of the vaccine that protects me from things like genital warts as well, but I do understand that that's really not all that could potentially be transmitted orally. I'm sorry for the use of the word "clean", it's just what I've always used but I've never really meant it to be negative towards people that have STIs. I'll change my wording for that, because that really isn't something I'd want to imply. Thank you again.

[Karyn]

Glad to help. And no worries about the language, it happens.

(Per the vaccine, genital warts are caused by a strain of the HPV virus. It's a virus that has a lot of different strains, some cause warts - genital and elsewhere on the body - and some can result in cell changes that lead to cancer, but it's all one virus.)

[Kittens]

So it's just protection from another strand of HPV? I guess I thought it was something different because my doctor described all the different things it protected me against, but didn't say that they were all part of the same thing.

[Heather]

The HPV vaccine only provides protection from the most common strains of sexually transmitted HPV - and the symptoms or other conditions that can occur as a result of contracting HPV, like cervical cancer and genital warts - not protection from other infections or diseases.