CLEVELAND -- It seems there's no limit to where some teens will poke holes in their bodies to make room for shiny jewelry.

But in Tuesday's Connecting With Kids, NewsChannel5's Tonya Strong reported that what many teens might not know is that nearly half of those holes get infected.

Connie Padilla, 24, has a piece of metal piercing her tongue, which recently posed a problem at dinner.

"And I bit down really hard on it, and I just, it hurt," she said. "I just felt like something fell off."

What fell off was a part of her tooth.

Aaron Arrell, 19, broke a tooth the same way.

"I was eating some Chex mix or something, and just bit down, and crack," he said.

Any piercing, on any part of the body, can go wrong and have such side effects as broken teeth, scarring, hepatitis and even AIDS.

Research from Texas Tech University found that a belly button piercing has a 45 percent chance of getting infected.

Camille Littlejohn's navel ring got infected. The 23-year-old then got her upper ear pierced, and that got infected, too.

"OK, that one really, really hurt -- I'm not going to lie," she said.

Some patients get hurt and don't even know it.

"The first thing we do when we see a patient with a tongue bar is we're going to go in and look for broken teeth," said Dr. Rick Lloyd, a pediatrician. "We've had patients in that haven't realized, and they've had three broken teeth."

Doctors said the bottom line is that tattooing and body piercing are hazardous. There is the potential for serious infection.

In addition, some people are actually allergic to tattoo dye.

Also, for those who get a tattoo and decide 10 years from now that they don't like it, it's very difficult and expensive to remove it.

Check out NewsChannel5's mission statement for Connecting With Kids. Also, be sure to visit the Connecting With Kids Web site for more information and helpful tips.