Piercing of the tongue: What is it?

Nowadays, tongue piercing is one of the most popular. It is at the same time "shocking", provocative and an object of eroticization, although it is most often invisible to others. Contrary to popular belief, tongue piercing is probably the least painful of all piercings. Indeed, if a large number of nerve endings are found on the tip of the tongue (you only have to bite to realize it), the median part is very little innervated. All professionals will be able to tell you that when it comes to piercing the language, you can hear everything and especially anything. The legend that a loss of taste is caused is totally fanciful and impossible. Indeed, the taste buds are located on the entire surface of the tongue in four areas (acid, salty, sweet and bitter). It is therefore impossible to place a piece of jewellery on such a small surface that there is any loss of taste.

Location of the piercing Tongue

The most common location is on the middle part of the tongue about 2-3 cm from the edge. The frenulum under the tongue should not be touched and this piercing should therefore be done from the bottom of the tongue to the top. It is possible to place several piercings one behind the other or on the sides depending on the morphology. To summarize, the more you can pull out the language and the more you can use it, but in any case, only a professional can tell you by looking at it. There are only two reasons why we can advise against tongue piercing. The first is that the two veins under the tongue are too close together and/or prominent. The second is that the frenulum is very developed and prevents you from taking your tongue out of your mouth by more than 2cm; first of all because the piercing will be difficult to do due to lack of access, then because the friction of the jewel on the frenulum can become embarrassing. These two cases are relatively rare and the piercing of the tongue is generally safe (provided that the advice is followed).

Advice before performing tongue piercing

As with all piercings, we recommend that you do not consume alcohol in the days before the procedure, which is even truer with tongue piercing. Indeed, alcohol tends to create edema much more easily. We advise you to start a small treatment the day before the procedure. Without prescription and very inexpensive, it will help you to shorten the swelling of the tongue. Ask your pharmacist for advice, of course, but the only contraindication is pineapple allergy (it's still rare!). Buy a box of 80 tablets of Extranase© and take 4 in the morning, lunch and dinner with meals (starting the day before your tongue piercing is done). This herbal anti-inflammatory is very effective and is often prescribed for wisdom tooth operations. Buy two doses of Arnica in homeopathy (9ch dosage). Take a full dose the day before. As always with homeopathy, delay eating a meal for at least 2 hours and do not eat mint in this time (no chewing gum for example).

Which jewellery for tongue piercing?

For tongue piercing, we place a barbell. During healing, a fairly long barbell (20-22mm) is usually placed to predict the swelling usually seen. Then, the size can be shortened to about 14-16mm (classic sizes). The tongue piercing can be easily widened to accommodate thicker bars (up to 5mm). To avoid damaging tooth enamel, we recommend wearing acrylic balls and/or Biosafe bars for anyone who "plays" with their tongue piercing.