Hey guys, I got my tongue pierced about three months ago.. it was basically on a whim, I decided monday morning to do it and went into the studio monday afternoon. The place I went is basically the only one in my small town, so I was slightly concerned about my lack of options, but as soon as I got through the doors, I felt pretty safe.
At A Glance Author manifold Contact onequarterevil@hotmail.com When Three months ago Artist tsk, i forget his name... possibly kevin? he was new. Studio altered native Location orangeville, ontario The guy who got me set up made me feel totally at ease, and we talked for a good ten minutes before he even clamped my tongue. He did a good job chatting me up, just basically making sure this is what I really wanted, stuff like that. He scrubbed his hands for a good couple minutes before putting on his gloves, and I was pretty impressed that he asked if I was allergic to latex before he touched me... I definitely felt like all the bases were covered.
The clamp was probably the most uncomfortable part of the whole procedure, it just felt slightly tight and confining, I kept wanting to swallow and move my tongue, but it wasn't any worse than being at the dentist or anything. I sat there for a couple more minutes with the clamp on, and he talked to me about the procedure and how often he does it, how it works, what he uses, stuff like that. I felt totally safe, and I saw him take the needle out of a sealed package, everything appeared really clean and sterilized.
Somewhere along the way he used what I'm assuming is iodine to mark the spot to pierce, and it wasn't a big deal then, but it was amusing when I sat up because my whole tongue was purple.
Anyway, he told me to sit back, open my mouth as far as possible, and hold my breath if I wanted to. He used a 14g. needle, starting from the bottom and pierced up through the clamp. I honestly was expecting it to hurt twice as much as it actually did, it was great! There was a slight prick, but I can honestly say that I think ear piercing hurts more than tongue piercing, I kid you not.
I was expecting to taste blood, but I didn't, which was nice. It was weird at first because I felt like I should be swallowing this thing in my mouth but I couldn't, heh.
Afterwards, he sat me up, wiped off my tongue, and talked to me for another 20 minutes about procedures on cleaning, mouthwash, and what NOT to do. I didn't take notes, but it's basic common sense stuff... no oral sex or heavy making out for two weeks, no crunchy foods for a few days, mouthwash after every food or drink, etc.
At the register, I bought the mouthwash that they provided, it contained tea tree oil and didn't have any alcohol in it, it's basically a less harsh form of mouthwash, and it tastes great, heh. I used about 1/2 - 3/4 of the bottle before Ii stopped using it every day, and that seemed to work fine... the first month, even after the swelling went away, I used it after I ate spicy food and stuff, just to make sure the piercing didn't get irritated.
And now, three months later, I'm infinitely happy with my tongue ring. I had a really good experience with swelling or lack thereof, I was swollen a little bit for about a week, but my speech wasn't impaired except for the first day, and it's more because you have to get used to the ball being there, as opposed to the swelling. I didn't have a big problem with eating, I just had soft food for about four days, and the only thing I noticed was the next day, I had to take breaks in between long strings of talking because my tongue was getting irritated and started to get sore. After the first two or three days, I was great! The first couple weeks, I accidently bit it a couple of times, while chewing my food, but it doesn't hurt. It just takes a couple weeks to get used to the fact that the ball doesn't get swallowed with everything else, heh. I basically followed all the rules, I played with it a bit after the swelling went down, but it didn't seem to hinder the healing. I've changed it once, to a shorter bar, because the metal ball is really heavy and it leaves an impression on your tongue. This isn't a bad thing, it's just .. a thing. Apparently the metal balls are bad for your teeth after a while but I haven't noticed a difference
Anyway, if you're thinking about it, just go for it. I put it off for a long time because I was scared of the pain, scared of ... whatever else people are scared of, but honestly, now that it's done I'm so glad I have it. It's easy, it's fun to play with, and hey. It's good for a lot of other things too. :)