I was inspired to get a tongue web piercing after looking at many photographs on BME. My piercer has also suggested that it is a neat and essentially painless piercing. The BME Encyclopedia entry is true—it is a useless and unseen piercing, but as with most of my piercing, I like having them just knowing that I have them. It isn't always about the esthetics for other people; sometimes it is the esthetics for me. Besides, it is pretty neat.
At A Glance Author rainbow bunny Contact rainbow bunny@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Adam Studio Adam's Body Art Location Brandon, Manitoba I went to Adam's Body Art in Brandon, Manitoba. This had become my "regular" studio and in fact, after a few experiences in other studios, this had become my only piercing studio. Adam is the piercer there, although the studio was coincidentally not named after him (to my surprise—it is a common assumption that it is). The previous owner had named the studio after her boyfriend at the time; when Adam took over, he kept the name.
I can honestly say that this is the only piercing that I experienced no pain. I did not feel much pain with any of the others either; a combination of good technique on behalf of the piercer and a naturally high threshold for pain on my behalf allowed this.
The trickiest part of this piercing was sticking my tongue to the top of my mouth. Adam explained it as "going to make a clicking sound, but holding it when the tongue hits the roof of the mouth" (you know—the horse click we can all make). This wasn't too hard, although having had my tongue pierced made it a bit more difficult to keep it stuck up on the roof.
The needle went through and I honestly didn't know if he had done the piercing yet or not. If you think about it though, it makes sense. It is such a thin piece of skin and there is nothing the needle is going through in the "middle portion".
He was then ready to insert the jewelry. He got the ring in, without the bead, and let me swallow a couple times. It is tricky for the piercer to insert such a small ring in such a small space, so this took a bit of time and of course, saliva builds up. After swallowing, he was able to get the bead in. The bottom ball from my tongue barbell sat right in the center of the ring for the tongue web.
The ring seemed to be a big too large in diameter. It was not horribly large, but when I talked, it would kick up against my bottom teeth. I knew that would eventually lead to teeth problems. So I now have it switched over to a curved barbell.
I chose a curved barbell over a straight one because the jewelry really does need some flex room. So I went from a 3/8" ring to a 5/16" curved barbell. The difference seems minimal but it has made a world of difference! Getting the jewelry changed was incredibly tricky, however. I did not go to a studio to get it switched and once I had the ring out, I knew I had to get the curved barbell in. I couldn't leave it without jewelry and lose the piercing! I got the barbell through alright and it was even a stretch from 14 gauge to 12 gauge, but getting the ball on was mad! I couldn't get my fingers in such a tiny spot in my mouth, let alone get the ball on and twist it all the way in (internal threads). My friend has a three prong device—he said it is for computer cleaning (???)—and held the ball in that. He was able to stick the threads in and twist on the ball. I then tightened the ball with my fingers. I know a computer cleaning three prong device is not sterile, but it was for a jewelry change, not an initia l piercing. I do try to keep things clean with my piercing, but we had to get that ball on. I need to add my disclaimer here that is required: it is not advisable to use non-sterile devices in initial or even healed piercing.
No problems with it as of today. It has healed very nicely. The white gunk that had been sitting around the entry and exit holes has disappeared. I find that with all rings, it seems there is more gunk build-up and this is easily resolved by switching to barbells. It makes sense: the ring is exposed to environmental contaminants and inevitably spins through the piercing, brining the bacteria with it. When a piercing isn't even healed, it is continually infecting it and impeding the healing process. I think rings are fine for healed piercing, but as a personal experience, I always go with barbells for initial piercing and healing.