Having a pierced tongue is no longer perceived as a business for the “freaks” out there, but you may still want to get the right tongue piercing information (facts) before you make the decision. This article also features guys and girls with tongue piercings and explores some cases of tongue piercing gone wrong.
Tongue Piercing Information
Tongue piercing comes with its own pros and cons and while it may look cool, it could also cause significant complications. The following is an outline of important tongue piercing information that you need to know:
Tongue Piercing infection – Prevalence
All body piercings come with an inherent risk of infections, but tongue piercings and indeed all oral piercings have a particularly high risk of infection because the oral cavity has high bacterial presence in both variety and number as the Canadian Dental Association says. Couple this with the moist environment and you have the making for an ideal bacterial activity ground.
It is estimated that infections that 20 percent of intraoral piercings develop infections which makes infection one of the most prevalent generalized complications among people with tongue piercings.
The accumulation of dental biofilm as well as calculus that typically occurs at the point of tongue piercing is often a contributing factor for infection. Piercing the tongue also creates an entry point through which oral microorganisms may enter the bloodstream, sometimes leading to systemic infections of other organs. This can trigger a long-term problem in immunosuppressed individuals.
More serious tongue infections can lead to potentially life-threatening conditions such as Ludwig’s angina and Endocarditis.
The importance of observing all the tongue piercing aftercare instructions to the letter cannot be over-emphasized. This helps to minimize the risk of complications as well as promote faster healing of the piercing. It is also important to check that the piercing artist is experienced and registered with the relevant bodies.
As for those with tongue piercings, you should seek the attention of your dentist or physician immediately if you develop signs of infection such as fever, chills, swelling, red-streaks around the piercing site, and sudden pain.
Bleeding
Bleeding is one of the common, immediate acute symptoms of tongue piercing. This is expected of the tongue as it contains a high supply of blood. It is this very fact that makes tongue piercings to heal relatively quicker, but on the downside, high blood supply also comes with the inherent risk of excessive bleeding. This can happen is one of the main blood vessels is nicked during the actual piercing.
Excessive bleeding is also likely if the piercing is done either too far aback or too close to the tip of the tongue. As the Canadian Dental Association says, excessive bleeding is of great concern among medically compromised individuals.
If bleeding takes more than a few hours, you should consider seeking medical attention. Individuals with a history of bleeding disorder should also take a second thought before getting a tongue piercing.
Dental Trauma and Gum Damage
Tongue piercing often causes damage and wearing away of the hard dental tissue as a result of frequent contact with the jewelry. As the Canadian Dental Association says, tongue piercings are the most commonly reported causative factor for dentition damage.
In addition to the physical wear of teeth, tongue piercing can also cause gum recession. This is usually observed after 2 years of wearing the tongue jewelry (studs, barbells etc.) and as the Canadian Dental Association reports, long stemmed barbells increase the risk of gum recession significantly.
To minimize the risk of dental damage, you should avoiding biting the jewelry or clicking it against teeth. And when engaging in a sporting activity, consider removing the jewelry.
Nerve Damage
There is no way we could have completed this article on tongue piercing information without mentioning about nerve damage which, although not so common, affects some piercees.
This happens when the piercing process damages the vascular nerves in the tongue and may make you end up with a permanently numb mouth; not able to taste foods and feel the temperature of foods and other substances normally.
Allergic Reactions
There is also the risk of developing allergic reactions if you are sensitive to the metal(s) from which the piercing jewelry is made.
Tongue Piercing Swelling
When you get pierced, it is only natural for your tongue to swell as it heals off. This is just a natural body response to trauma.
Most cases of tongue piercing swelling are just mild or minimal and subsides in just a few days, but there is also the risk of moderate to severe swelling that persists for a long time or even interferes with your ability to speak and breathe. Yes, cases of obstructed airways are not unheard of.
More Tongue Piercing Facts
In addition to the tongue piercing information provided in the previous sections, you will also want to consider the following tongue piercing facts as you weigh your option whether or not to get your tongue pierced:
- It is painful – Because tongue piercing involves sticking a needle into the tissues, with no numbing involved, it will inevitably hurt.
- There is a risk of drooling: Drooling is one of those tongue piercing facts that come as scary as it gets. Tongue piercings may trigger increased saliva production in some people, eventually leading to drooling or even decreased ability to speak properly.
- Risk of swallowing: Cases of tongue piercees swallowing their jewelry are not unheard of. You can always avoid this by checking regularly to ensure that the jewelry is tightly fastened in place.
Guys with Tongue Piercings
There is a misconceived perception that guys with tongue piercings are gays. This emanates from the oral sex-association of tongue piercings. While this misperceived connotation is slowly dwindling, it is still prevalent in some communities and countries and is something you need to be aware of.
Tongue piercing in males is also taken to be a pre-occupation of people who thrive on pain among some quarters, but this has not stopped the daring types seeking to get pierced for aesthetic purposes.
We sought to find out some pictures of guys with tongue piercings and below are some of them:
Picture: Guys with Tongue Piercings 1
This guy has a tongue piercing with a barbell and has taken it a bit further with silvery braces.
Picture: Guys with Tongue Piercings 2
From the look of things, this guy is a real fan of body mods art. Notice that he has not only a tongue piercing but also ear piercings and huge tattoos on his hands and chest.
Girls with Tongue Piercings
Now that we have listed some pictures of guy with a tongue piercings, what about girls. Well, girls have not been left out to in the thrill and “badass” appeal of tongue piercings. Pictures of girls with tongue piercings are all over the internet.
This includes celebrities such as Christina Aguilera, and Evan Rachel, and Drew Barrymore.
Drew Barrymore’s tongue piercing is a true testimony to the “less-overt” power of tongue piercings; she is a little less overt with her piercing compared to other celebrities and piercees, with her piercing jewelry only visible when she yawn or gets surprised as VH1 puts it.
Drew Barrymore tongue piercing
Here are more pictures of girls with tongue piercings:
Willow Smith Tongue Piercing
This photo of Willow Smith, Will smith’s daughter, seems to suggest that she has had her tongue pierced.
Twitter users were quick to bash at her that it could just as well be one of those fake tongue piercings, especially considering the fact that Willow Smith was just 11 years old when that photo first appeared online, but the general consensus since then seems to be that it was indeed a true tongue piercing.
Shayla Elliot Tongue Piercing
This piercee by the name of Shayla Eliot reportedly couldn’t talk or eat for a few days after having her tongue pierced. On a good note though, her tongue healed in just a week.
When Did Drew Barrymore Get a Tongue Piercing?
The question “when did Drew Barrymore get a tongue piercing?” is asked very often in the online sphere and we sought to find the answer to it as part of this research.
To be frank with you, it was rather difficult to ascertain exactly when Brew Barrymore got her tongue pierced but from the literature available online, we would take a bet it was sometimes early to mid-2009.
Cute Tongue Piercings or Cool
Human beings are social creatures. We feel comfortable knowing that we are in the company of others. They could just as well be miles apart, but knowing that you have a companion in a daring journey, decision, or event has some kind of reassuring tendencies.
For most of us, if not all, knowing that someone else also has had positive results with what we are considering to do also makes us feel more confident and at ease about it. It is thus hardly surprising to see lots of people searching for pictures of “cute tongue piercings” and “cool tongue piercings”.
We scouted the internet looking for cute tongue piercings” and here are a couple photos that we came up with:
Cute tongue piercing 1
This girl spotted a nice barbell with plastic, stripped balls. The variation of color between the top of the barbell and the bottom ball also add to the allure.
Cute tongue piercing 2
This picture is in my opinion an epitome of self-expression. The tongue piercing jewelry works hand in hand with the ear jewelry to add to the whole picture.
Cute tongue piercing 3
Lastly, there is nothing much to say about this double tongue piercing. It is just cute. Or what do you think?
Tongue Piercing Gone Wrong – Pictures and Images
There are as much many nice stories about tongue piercings as there are horrible stories. Tongue piercing infection constitutes the largest proportion of tongue piercing gone wrong stories, but cases of nerve damage, teeth cracking, speech impediments, gum damage, blocked airways, and reactions to the jewelry metal are also not unheard of.
We have covered more about this common tongue piercing complications previously in the section on “tongue piercing information”.
Now, let us list a few tongue piercing gone wrong photos so that you can have a picture (pun intended) 🙂 of how things might end up in an unfortunate turn of event.
Tongue piercing gone wrong
This image shows the stitched tongue of a patient by the name of Reece-Marie who had to go in for surgery after a tongue piercing left her with a ruptured blood vessel (a vein to be more precise).
As one would suspect of a 16 years old, she walked into a tattoo parlor looking forward to coming out with a cool tongue piercing (with a silver barbell), but things turned for the worse when she started bleeding so profusely that she had to be picked by an ambulance.
Tongue piercing gone wrong 2
This case of tongue piercing gone wrong involved an infection of the tongue. The green discoloration on the tongue indicates presence of pus which is a classic sign of infection. Tongue piercing infection treatment often involves the use of antibiotics and surgical drainage.
Tongue piercing gone wrong 3
This picture courtesy of Painful Pleasures shows a piercee whose gum has receded as a result of constant pressure to the gum by the huge green ball attaching the barbell.
Lastly, there is nothing much to say about this tongue piercing picture except that it went terribly wrong.
Tongue piercing gone wrong 4
