There are only a handful of documented cases of men who claim to have been infected through oral sex, and as a result, most gay men don’t use a condom when sucking cock. The problem here is that while sucking is obviously much safer than fucking, it’s not 100 percent safe. We advise you not to suck cock if: (1) you have been to a dentist for any reason within forty-eight hours, (2) you have an open sore of any kind on the inside of your mouth or severe gum disease, or (3) your partner has any kind of lesion or sore on his cock. In all these cases, it’s best to wait until healing is complete before engaging in oral sex. And any of the above require extra caution if you or your partner has AIDS or is HIV-positive. Should you forget these rules or only notice an open sore after you’ve sucked cock, immediately gargle with a mouth-wash with 18 percent or more of alcohol or a suitable solution of hydrogen peroxide and water. Since several cases of men infected orally may have occurred as a result of particularly rough oral sex—also known as irrumation, in which one man fucks the other man’s mouth rather than having him suck—you might want to consider carefully before getting into this kind of a scene (see Kinky Sex). Few (if any) medical authorities believe that tongue-kissing (or French-kissing) can transmit the virus, but you can get other STDs such as herpes that way. Feces, not strictly a body fluid, are not implicated in HIV transmission, although they can transmit other sexual diseases, such as hepatitis, that are as dangerous. If you have a friend or lover who is HIV-positive or has AIDS, you should use caution in cleaning any of his body fluids (see Condoms; HIV Disease; Safe Sex; Sexually Transmitted Diseases).