Tongue Piercing

Tongue piercing

A tongue piercing is a body piercing usually done directly through the center of the tongue. While tongue piercing remains a popular site to pierce in the Western world, it has declined in popularity since 2011, going from the seco!Standard tongue piercings, or one hole in the center of your tongue, is the most common and safest way to have your tongue pierced, and as such it has gained in popularity and is no longer considered an "extreme" piercing.

nd to the fourth most popular body piercing for both men and women.

Procedure

Piercing

The piercer will check the underside of the tongue for large blood vessels, sometimes with a bright light, and mark a safe placement for the piercing. The tongue is then clamped with forceps and pierced with a needle, usually from top to bottom with a piercing needle or from bottom to top with a cannula needle. Initial jewelry should always be considerably longer than will ultimately be required to allow for swelling, which is common following the piercing. Within two days of getting the piercing the tongue can swell up to double its original size. This can lead to pain when speaking and eating, but this is not permanent. Piercers often recommend drinking cold beverages and sucking on crushed ice to help reduce the swelling. Some people find that taking Ibuprofen or similar anti-inflammatory drugs can greatly reduce the swelling associated with a tongue piercing. It is advisable not to drink alcohol, smoke, or eat spicy food until the piercing is at least partially healed (around two weeks), and alcohol-free mouthwash should be used after eating or smoking.
After the swelling calms down, a period of mild tongue and oral mucosa irritation can follow, sometimes discouraging the recently pierced person from keeping the piercing. Appropriate mouth washing, care during meals and some patience will usually be sufficient to come to a sufficiently healed state. After full healing the pierced person is advised to replace the initial long barbell (to accommodate the initial swelling) with a shorter barbell. This second barbell is sometimes included in the price of the initial piercing procedure. It can be difficult for an inexperienced recently pierced person to replace the barbell with a shorter version, so often the help of the piercer is asked for. The second barbell is usually 2 mm – 4 mm shorter than the initial barbell, but should be adapted to the individual anatomy. After this replacement a second (short) healing period is observed. In case of absence of irritation, the further stretching procedure can be started.
Because of the tongue's exceptional healing ability, piercings can close very fast. Even completely healed holes can close up in a matter of hours, and larger-stretched holes can close in just a few days. The length of time for the hole to heal varies greatly from person to person – some people with larger-stretched holes (greater than 4 g (5 mm)) can still fit jewelry (albeit smaller) in their piercing after months or even years. It is generally recommended to avoid piercing in bodies under development or in people not capable of taking care of a recent piercing.

Placement of the tongue

The traditional placement for a tongue piercing is along the midline of the tongue, in the center of the mouth. It is often approximately .76 inches (1.9 cm) or so back from the tip of the tongue. It is placed with the top a little further back than the bottom, which allows the top of the jewelry to lean slightly back, away from the teeth, and toward the higher part of the upper palate where there is more room in the mouth. It is also usually positioned just in front of the attachment of the lingual frenulum.
A tongue frenulum piercing is a piercing through the frenulum underneath the tongue, known as the frenulum linguae, and commonly the tongue web piercing. "Venom bites" is the term given to two tongue piercings placed side by side on the tongue, which are considered to be more painful than a regular tongue piercing through the tongue's center. Although the term "angel bite" is sometimes referred to as two piercings in the tongue with one placed right in front of another, the term is much more common for two Monroe piercings on either side of the face. There is also the "snake-eyes" which is one curved bar going horizontally through the tip of the tongue, it is mostly painless other than a mild amount of pressure. It is possible to use a (stretched) tongue piercing as a first step to tongue splitting.

Risks:
	1. Chipped or Broken Front Teeth The majority of patients we see with tongue barbells wind up with chips, cracks or fractures in their front teeth. These have to be repaired with fillings or crowns. And re-done repeatedly when those wear out - over and over for the rest of your life.
	2. Gum Surgery We've had to refer patients to periodontists for surgical correction of damage caused by rubbing tongue barbells.
	3. It can go down the wrong way. The barbell can come un-screwed and wind up in a lung. (If you're lucky it can be removed by passing a bronchoscope down your throat, avoiding chest surgery.)  Here's a case. Going down the other way isn't necessarily great, either. The ball end should pass through harmlessly if swallowed. However the long part would carry the risk of lodging or causing internal tears in the intestine.
	4. Infection and, just possibly,  death The mouth is moist and full of bacteria, and the tongue has major blood vessels ideal for spreading infection to the brain and elsewhere. This can disfigure or kill you.
	The case at left was a local girl who almost died from a brain abscess following a tongue piercing. She had part of her skull removed to relieve pressure caused by the infection. She can still feel the soft spot where the skull is missing. This is rare, but it is real.
	5. Losing blood - possibly lots of it. The tonguecontains large blood vessels, and you're in trouble if one of them is perforated. You could end up having to have the vessel closed surgically in hospital. There is also the possibility of hitting a nerve, and damaging that.  Imagine life with a tongue that doesn't work properly.
	6. Lingering Pain.  Tongue piercing has been associated with cases of neuralgia  - severe, long-lasting nerve pain.
	7. Hepatitis or HIV Unsterile instruments are a great way to spread these and other infections. If you must do this, be sure to go to a reputable clinic, and be very sure that they do things properly: autoclave sterilization and gloves.
4 Reasons to have a Tongue Piercing: 1.Its cool 2.Parents HATE it 3.Everybody is doing it 4.Having a teenage brain Is it Worth It? You decide the price of fashion. The best advice we can give you: keep it outside the mouth. Do we recommend safe practices and a qualified operator?  Of course. (We also recommend light cigarettes and cutting down for those who smoke, and helmets and mouthguards for those who choose extreme sports. No sense making things more risky than they already are. ) Do we recommend oral piercing?  Obviously not. The risks are a bit high for a medically unnecessary procedure.