The Better Alternative to Dental Dams

A dental dam is a thin oblong of latex designed to be used as a barrier during intimate activity. They’re typically used for cunnilingus and anilingus. They’re intended primarily to provide protection against sexually transmitted infections, but are also useful for people who want a barrier during oral because:

1. Direct contact tongue-to-flesh is too much stimulation
2. They or their partner are menstruating and don’t want to get messy
3. They like giving/receiving oral, but don’t like giving/receiving unprotected oral

The trouble with dams is… they’re extremely unfit for purpose. They’re difficult to find, expensive to buy, and incredibly awkward to use.

To use a dam effectively you have to get it in place, and hold it in place throughout the act. Dams slip, cling to themselves, sometimes rip, and often get moved around by any activity. Trying to use a dam during oral sex is an exercise in frustration.

Which makes sense. Dental dams weren’t invented as a barrier for use during oral sex. Instead they were designed for use by dentists who wanted to screen one or two teeth from the rest of a mouth.

Over the years they’ve become a symbol of queer sex, and have constituted the only available option for lovers who wanted to engage in oral using protection – whether because of a known STI, or because they just prefer it with a barrier.

Dams were the only choice… and they were a terrible choice. But now, there’s another option.

Lorals are latex pants designed to function as a wearable barrier for oral sex. They’re thin, stretchy, and FDA-approved. Pull on a pair (with lube inside or out for increased sensation) and you effectively have a good-looking dam that stays where it’s supposed to without you constantly holding it.

This is a vast, vast improvement on the dental dam. If you use barriers during oral (or if you would use barriers if they were any good), it’s worth at least investigating Lorals.

As a new product, they’re currently rather expensive, and probably aren’t yet available in your local high street sex shop. You can, instead, order them online from SheVibe, or direct from the manufaturer. Get “Lorals for Protection” if you want a barrier against STIs, or any of their other products if you’re not worried about STI transmission.

Now, all the remains is for someone to reinvent the female condom…