Tongue Piercing

A tongue piercing is a piercing through the tongue. A single pierciin the (3-7) days afterwards will occur and can be extremely uncomfortable. Cold, Slurpee-style drinks and sucking on ice will help to mitigate the swelling and soreness, as will ibuprofen. more...

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This swelling must be accounted for by using a longer piece of initial jewelry, which is later replaced by a shorter piece of jewelry to prevent the healed piercing from damaging the teeth and gums.

A tongue piercing usually takes 4-6 weeks to fully heal. Aftercare for tongue piercings is more complicated than most other piercings, as the healing piercing will come into contact with anything that enters the mouth, including food and smoke. For these reasons, many certified piercers suggest as after care guidelines, not to engage in oral sex, not to smoke, and to remember rinsing your mouth thoroughly with a particular antiseptic mouthwash recommended by the certified piercer. The piercer should recommend either an alcohol-free mouthwash or diluting a regular mouthwash, as the alcohol will irritate the piercing and slow healing. It is especially important not to play with the piercing during the healing period, because that will severely inhibit the proper healing of the hole.

Jewelry

Tongue piercings are most often pierced with straight barbell style jewelry. Due to the amount of action and movement that the tongue is involved with (speech, eating, kissing, etc...), jewelry size and comfort is especially important. Barbells that are too thin are prone to migration, causing discomfort and irritation. Tongue piercings can often be easily stretched to accommodate larger jewelry. The beads at the end of the barbell can be made of many decorative materials, including plastic, but the environment of the mouth can cause cracking and discoloration in the jewelry over time. No-see-um beads, flatter beads matching the color of the tongue are sometimes worn to conceal this piercing, often in places of employment.

An uncommon version of this piercing will be close to the tip of the tongue, and a captive bead ring may be worn in it. This placement and jewelry choice is uncommon because it is much more likely to cause discomfort and damage the teeth and gums.

History and culture

There is a history of ritual tongue piercing in both Aztec and Maya cultures, with illustrations of priests piercing their tongue and then either drawing blood from it or passing rough cords, designed to inflict pain, through the hole. There is no evidence of permanent or long term tongue piercing in Aztec culture, however, despite the practice of many other permanent body modifications.

Permanent or long term piercing of the tongue is part of the resurgence of body piercing in contemporary society. The ready availability of high quality, surgical steel barbell style jewelry is associated with the emergence of this piercing in the 1980s. As with many contemporary body piercing innovations, the origin of this piercing is associated with Gauntlet, the first professional body piercing studio in the United States, formerly located in Los Angeles, California. Elayne Angel, the first person awarded the Master Piercer's certificate by Jim Ward, body piercing pioneer and founder of Gauntlet, is commonly associated with the promotion and popularity of this piercing.

Read more at Wikipedia.org