TONGUE STUD

Top 4 Reasons to Have Your Tongue Pierced:

It's “Cool”. Cool ?? There is a concept we can discuss some time.
Parents hate it. Maybe there are good reasons why they hate it.
Everybody's doing it. If you want to follow and not lead; If you want to be a goat not an eagle; that is a good reason.
You have a teenage brain. Your body has not finished growing. That includes your brain. Science fact: you are not ready for “adult” risk assessment.

Top 7 Reasons Not To:

1. Chipped or Broken Front Teeth: People with tongue barbells will usually wind up with chips, cracks or fractures in their front teeth. These chips and cracks can lead to gum disease and caries. Often these have to be repaired with fillings or crowns. These repairs will have to be replaced as they wear out for the rest of your life. Some dentist will put his kids through college, on the money you pay him, because you wanted to look “cool”.

2. Gum Surgery: Often the tongue barbell will rub against the gums causing damage that can only be corrected by surgery. If you enjoy pain; this can be fun for you.

3. Lung Surgery: The barbell can come un-screwed and wind up in your lung. If you're lucky it can be removed with a bronchoscope shoved down your throat. If you are unlucky they will have to cut open your chest. Now you will have a big “cool” scar on your chest. It is possible for the barbell pass harmlessly and end up in your stomach. Do not get too happy just yet. The pointed end of the barbell can puncture the intestine walls. Punctures and tears in the intestine walls can lead to peritonitis. You can die from peritonitis. Dead is really cool.

4. Infection and, just possibly, death: The mouth is moist and full of bacteria, and the tongue has major blood vessels ideal for spreading infection to the brain and elsewhere. This can disfigure or even kill you. The case below is a girl who almost died from a brain abscess after a tongue piercing. She had part of her skull removed to relieve pressure caused by the infection. She can still feel the soft spot where the skull is missing.

5. Losing blood: The tongue contains large blood vessels, and if one is punctured you could have severe bleeding. You could end up requiring the damaged blood vessel closed surgically at a hospital. There is also the possibility of hitting a nerve. If you damage a nerve you could spend the rest of your life with a tongue that doesn't work properly.
6. Lingering Pain: Tongue piercing has been associated with cases of neuralgia - severe, long-lasting nerve pain.
7. AIDS HIV: I saved the best for last. Contaminated instruments can spread this fatal disease and other infections such as hepatitis, herpes and oral thrush. Very few piercing parlors have the proper equipment ( autoclave, etc) to effectively sterilize their instruments. Those that have an autoclave rarely maintain it properly.

HEY, Kids, Do not take my word for it. Try these web sites: Canadian Dental Association; Texas Department of Health; American Dental Association; UCSD School of Medicine; British Health Journal;

I am not trying to keep you from “being cool’……just keep you from being crippled or dead.