The tongue seems to be the first piercing most people choose when deciding to get an oral piercing. It is a good “segue” piercing between a helix and moving on to a labret or a Medusa. They can also be somewhat more discreet for those of us who need to take that into consideration.
The tongue-piercing experience is generally a lot less painful than most would think. The piercing is actually located in the middle of your tongue, between the two muscles. We never advise piercing through the muscle tissue of your tongue as this can lead to problems with healing and excessive damage to your teeth and gums. Such piercings include a horizontal tongue, a surface tongue piercing, and venoms; we do not perform any of these services at the studio.
After rinsing with non-alcoholic mouthwash, the tongue is dried and marked. The piercer will then clamp your tongue (this is usually the most uncomfortable part of the experience), place the needle on the bottom just to the side of your frenulum, and then after a couple of deep breaths, the needle is pushed through and the jewelry follows.
You will experience swelling with all oral piercings, but tongues, in particular, will swell more than others. We will pierce you with jewelry long enough to accommodate for your swelling and we highly recommend coming back in 2 -3 weeks to have your barbell downsized. This will help prevent damage to your teeth from playing with the longer piece or biting down on it. Like all other oral piercings, swelling can easily be controlled by keeping the area iced and free from excessive irritation. For complete aftercare instructions, please visit our Aftercare page.
Making sure you eat before any piercing is important but, particularly with oral piercings as it will be difficult for you to eat afterward. Also being prepared by buying a non-alcoholic mouthwash prior to your trip to the studio will save you a stop afterward.