This is the story of my sixth, and favourite, piercing (my second non-ear piercing), at age seventeen. My mods are pretty demure most of the time, due to work and family not being particularly supportive. My only facial piercing, my septum, is usually 'flipped up' and I have solid plugs in my lobes so they just look like big flat earrings. Tattoos are easily covered by clothing. I work as a receptionist in a war veterans' home, and occasionally a resident will squint at my mouth and say quietly "Dear, you have something in your teeth." This is a far cry from a few people who have literally pointed at me, at arms length, shouting "Oh my god!! That chick has her tooth pierced!!"
At A Glance Author Claire Contact Claire@bme.anon IAM pinkybrewster When A year ago Artist Tanya Studio Primal Urge Location Perth, Western Australia I woke up one morning back in 2004 and decided that I would get something pierced. A friend of mine had her scrumper done, I always thought it was cute and (I won't lie) I liked the fact that she was the only other person I knew who had one. I spent a couple of hours convincing my boy that scrumpers were not ugly, and that he should come with me and get his tongue pierced.
I told my mum that we were heading off to the piercing studio and was told "Oh Claire... just don't show me when you get home." I love that lady's patience.
Making an appointment at the shop is highly recommended, as I absolutely hate spending hours waiting around for a space to open up, but on this occasion I was a bit too excited and just rushed in. Had a chat with the lady at the counter (who's name I can never ever remember) and Tanya about the size of my scrumper, what kind of jewellery I should get and the aftercare. I wanted a bar but I got talked into a CBR. Apparently they're a lot easier to do up once the piercing is done (much less pulling about and fiddling). We filled out our paperwork and got told to come back in a few hours.
Went on a small shopping spree (Oh, how I loved the days when I had excessive money), bought an Xbox and some other stuff and got some lunch. I'm sure Tanya didn't appreciate the onions that the boy had on his burger, but we didn't really think about that until it was too late. We invested in a pack of gum and headed back to Primal.
I remember there was a whole bunch of kids wanting labrets that day, like five of them all at once. Strange.
I can't remember how we worked out that I'd go first, but that's the way things happened. I sat in the little room on the bed/bench thing and the boy sat beside me. It's a bit hard to hold someone's hand when you're busy holding your top lip up and out, so he just had his hand on my back.
Tanya lined it all up, put the clamps on and got me to breathe in deep. I was a little bit nervous, okay terrified, but by the time I was about to say, "Hey, wait!" she had pushed the needle through. A little fiddling around with the jewellery and I was ready to admire my newly adorned mouth.
I sat in the waiting room while my boy had his tongue done. It being his first piercing, I think he was aware that there might be a few tears so he politely declined my offer to hold his hand. He came out looking flushed, but happy.
I was very pleased with the healing of my scrumper, it healed very quickly and only ever hurt if I bumped it. I could eat, talk, everything without any pain at all. The only trouble I've had was a few weeks ago (so maybe 10 months after the initial piercing) it got a build up of plaque. It was extremely painful when it moved and definitely reduced me to watering eyes once or twice. That was cleared up by a swoosh of mouthwash and some careful cleaning with a baby toothbrush.
I haven't had any drastic tooth erosion, but there are two distinct dark spots under the ring. The spots can be seen if I lift up my lip and hold the ring away from the gum line (yeah, try doing that and taking a photo, all on your own). The tooth isn't worn away; it's just a couple of tiny spots, so I'll keep an eye on it.
I've got to say I will be extremely upset if I have to take it out. I love my little scrumper, it's cute and it was my first semi-unusual piercing. However, I'm not unreasonable and will always choose keeping my front teeth over keeping my piercing.