Human bites

[Couch Potatoe]

Because human teeth are not particularly sharp, most human bites cause a bruise and only a shallow tear (laceration), if any. Exceptions are on fleshy appendages, such as the ears, nose, and penis, which may be severed.
The clenched-fist injury, or fight bite, which occurs on the knuckles of a person who punches another person in the mouth, is likely to become infected. A clenched-fist cut frequently involves the finger tendon that passes over the knuckle.
Sometimes the biting person transmits diseases, such as hepatitis. Transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is extremely unlikely because the concentration of the virus in saliva is lower than that in blood and because substances in saliva inhibit the virus’s activity.
(See also Introduction to Bites and Stings.)