About a month ago on January 17, I decided to get my tongue pierced. I already have my eyebrow pierced, which I love, and several piercings in both ears. I decided it was about time to get something new, and a tongue piercing is something I had wanted for quite some time. I had been debating whether or not to do it, and I don't know why I didn't do it sooner. I was a bit apprehensive because of all the rumors floating around tongue piercing: you'll talk funny, you'll lose sensation in your mouth, etc, etc. Well, let me just say that it's all a bunch of nonsense.
At A Glance Author anonymous When A month ago Artist Megan Studio 3rd Dimension Location Appleton, WI I woke up in the morning, had a nice big breakfast and got ready to head to the piercing lounge. When I got there, I told them who I was, and they took me straight back to the room (after paperwork) and started preparing. My piercer showed me all the tools that she was going to use and how they had been sterilized beforehand. Then she showed me the jewelry in the sealed package. By this point I was well satisfied with the level of cleanliness. I always fell much better about a piercing when I see, with my own eyes, all the necessary equipment being taken out of the sealed packaging. Now onto the piercing.
She told me to stick my tongue out and she dried it all out with a piece of paper towel. Then she marked the spot on my tongue to show me where I was going to be pierced. She also explained how the barbell would have to go in at an angle so as not to go through my saliva gland, but that it would still look straight from the top. Then, she got the clamps out, clamped my tongue, and before I knew it we were all finished. I barely felt a thing!!! It was rather amusing having my tongue pierced because you are forced to keep your tongue out of your mouth throughout the whole thing. This causes an extensive amount of drooling all over the napkin clipped to the front of your shirt. It's funny when you're sitting there drooling and you can't really do anything about it, because you can't touch the area while it's being pierced. After she finished, my piercer explained the aftercare to me and then I was off with my new tongue piercing.
It was kind of an odd situation having a piece of metal in my mouth that I couldn't take out, but I got used to it real quick.
A few hours later I was getting hungry and decided mashed potatoes would be the best thing. Little did I know, this would become one of the funniest and hardest things I've ever done. I was sitting with my brother while I was eating and I've never seen someone laugh so hard as he did while I attempted to eat my food. I definitely could not use my tongue like I used to, so I had to resort to moving my entire head around to move the food around my mouth. Eventually, I just gave up and stuck with drinking ice water the rest of the day. My tongue swelled quite a bit which made it rather difficult to talk, but this all went away with time.
By about the 4th or 5th day, I was back to normal, talking like I used to and eating like I used to. I still had to be careful how I ate because every once and awhile I would bite down on the ball in my tongue. Nothing ever bad happened though.
It's now been a month since I got it pierced and it looks great. You can barely even notice how the barbell goes in at an angle. Once your tongue is all healed, it becomes quite evident why it's pierced the way it is. I can talk without the slightest indication of having my tongue pierced other than visually and I can eat anything I want. I've really learned to appreciate my new piercing. I can manipulate the barbell in so many ways, I've even fascinated myself with a few. It's also a great thing to play around with when boredom sets in. People ask me about it a lot because I'm one of the only people in my group of friends who has one and I love talking about it.
Basically, I love my tongue piercing and would advise anyone that wants to do it, do it! Aftercare is easy and painless. It only involves rinsing your mouth out. The more you rinse the safer you'll be. My personal bit of advice would be to drink lots of ice-cold beverages and have soup for meals. Ice-cold drinks help to keep the swelling down and just taste great when you can't eat much. Stay safe and happy piercing. -PJ-