This is the experience of my horizontal tongue piercing. Seven months ago, I first learned about this piercing. From that day on I knew I had to add it to my collection. I constantly urged my piercer to forget about the negative side effects. But to no avail she still would not budge. She mainly felt uncomfortable about the serious damage the jewlery would probably do to my teeth. So I tried to defend the piercing and reason after reason she still would not do it. Finally after bugging her for what seemed like an eternity she agreed to do it. Under one condition, I had to promise to take it out if it became a big problem. And of course I agreed. SUCKER... Just Kidding.
At A Glance Author Angel Collie Contact pierceddurhamboy@aol.com IAM fighting_camel When A week ago Artist Erin Leigh Hale Studio Our home Location Dallas, Texas
So the search began I endlessly researched my soon to be piercing on BME. Let me just say I love BME. I can usually find a generous helping of information on a particular piercing. However this time it was different. I could only find one personal experience. I like to read several stories that express the wide range of personal encounters. I know that no two experiences are alike. When given several different points of view I feel I can go into the piercing with a general knowledge of what I am about to go through. I feel that writing this experience is important for me due to the lack of information out there on this piercing. I hope my experience will offer a better understanding of the piercing so they can decide if this piercing is right for them.
The piercing was performed by my partner and piercer, Erin Leigh Hale, formerly employed as the body piercer at the Ink Sinkers Hall Tattoo Shop in North Carolina. Before we were to commence with the piercing we went out to eat at Joe's Crab Shack. We jokingly dubbed this "my last meal". After dinner we headed home to finally do the long awaited piercing. Once we got home Erin set everything up. To begin she measured my tongue with calipers. A 14g 7/8 barbell with 4mm beads was our jewelry of choice. To prepare my tongue for the piercing I swished with an antiseptic mouthwash. Next, Erin used Gentian Violet on a toothpick to mark the center of my tongue. She then made a horizontal line across my tongue. And with a quick check of the calipers our placement was confirmed. Erin tells me to relax as she puts the forceps on. As I had already expected this was the worst part of the piercing. It was not that they were tight. I just did not like the feel of the metal teeth clenching down on my tongue. So within a second Erin had the alignment she wanted and I was finally in the moment I had been waiting and anticpating for months... With a Deep Breath In...And a Big Exhale...the jewelry was in, the ball was on...and I was about to begin the journey of my finally real horizontal tongue piercing!!
When I could first put my tongue back in my mouth it was a very weird feeling. Just as we had expected the beads on the barbell constantly rubbed my gums and clanked on my teeth. I was having a difficult time talking and it was even more difficult to understand what I was saying. The combination of the piercing and swelling made it almost impossible to communicate effectively for the first few hours. To help with my discomfort during this time, I sucked on ice and took ibuprofen regularly. I have not tried to eat anything yet and probably will not until morning.
Ok so eating...I can definetly say eating has been a real experince on its own. I have found that small bites get me a long way through a meal. If I try to eat too big of a bite it gets too painful and I find I would rather just stop eating. It is not that I am biting the beads as Erin thought I would. It is just that my tongue gets really tired and sore if I try to eat too big of a meal all at once.
I still have a hard time talking and it has been six days now (Monday to Saturday). The swelling has finally gone away. Erin says it is easier to understand me now. At first I would bite the beads quite a bit. After some practice though the bead biting is minimal. Everyone says I sound like I am talking with a mouthful of food. Speaking of food it is getting much easier to eat.
So to conclude this experience, the piercing is not all that painful and afterwards has not been all that bad either. Every once in a while I still bite the beads. Erin is only unhappy with the jewelry. She wishes they made a tygon or PTFE bar that was internally threaded so it could have discs instead of beads. But until we can get our hands on that she is ordering me a steel barbell with discs. After, we get the jewelry I am not totally sure I will keep the piercing. There will definetly have to be some improvements in my abilities to talk and eat if it is going to stay. It will be a tough decision to make. I love the way the piercing looks and the clicking noises it makes against my teeth are my favorite. If it keeps getting better and the new jewelry I am ordering helps, then it is definetly here to stay. I will update you on anything new that arises. And if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me. Thanks for reading my experience -- Angel