Pros and Cons of Tongue Piercing

[Necrosis]

I know one person got a tongue piercing, ended up with a flap of tongue hanging loose. Freaky looking. Had to get it surgically removed.


Other than that....... just your usual hygiene worries, metal getting into the bloodstream, I know some people chip their teeth on them.

Plus points..... well, they're interesting for us in extracurricular physical activities, say no more.




So, is you condition a hole in the tongue itself, in the frenulum or is it just a big submaxillary duct?

http://www.bartleby.com/107/illus1202.html


If you can, edit the image to give us an idea. I can look through my genetics database.

[Slink]

sounds like you've wanted one for a long time.  If for nothing more than curiosity, but that is not to be discounted.  Side effects could include health risk, suck as infection, accidental tearing, etc.  Also, i'd imagine there could be some social repercussions.  I've never had piercings, but i'd imagine that there would be some judgement about them.  On the plus side, tounge piercings are pretty difficult to notice on most occaisons.


I'd say do it.  soulds like you've been interested in it for quite some time.  Sounds like other people here have gone into reasons not to get it done.  if you're comfortable with those, then go for it.

[LowCrawler]

do whatever you feel like doing and dont let anyone tell you otherwise.

[Necrosis]

Thats why LC is on the run from the law.

[Legionnaired]

If you ARE going to get one, shell out some extra money and get a silver, gold, or platinum plated stud, not just a steel one. Those metals are more innert than some of the others you would normally get, and are probably a little safer for you.

But I'd still advise checking with a doctor first. And letting Mr. Duck know in advance wouldn't hurt either .

[bacon_flaps]

I'm sure I wouldn't mind.


He.

[Leaderz0rz]

my sister has a tongue ring for about 5 years now. she had it get infected and swollen a few times but nothing major. the most important thing is to use listerine or whatever after each meal/drink. yes its annoying but you will thank yourself when you don't get an infection.

[lolfighter]

Curious. Iron shouldn't be a problem at all, especially not iron oxide. I mean, what do you think the red colour in your blood is? There might be some problems with the alloys used in piercings, though. There are probably other metals in there as well.
So the gold plating is probably not a bad idea. Not only do you have shiny shiny gold that never gets dull, it's also so inert that you don't need to worry about it. Platinum is even more inert, but looks boring.

Since you're swinging by the dentist anyway, ask him. He should know a thing or two about tongue piercings. He'll probably give you the whole shebang about risks to your health, but that's because he's a doctor. It can't be deadly, and he knows more about the human mouth than anyone here does. Especially concerning your rather unique condition.

And be sure to get it done somewhere reputable. If the dude is disinfecting his instruments over a candle flame, leave the shop and don't look back.

[Necrosis]

Iron oxide in the blood, a sealed and hygenic environment, its not the same as iron oxide from the outside world getting into the blood. Oxides from natural air will contain some pollutants and unhygenic little things that you don't want floating around your body.

[lolfighter]

It's not like she's going to the local dump and licking the rusty nails there, this process is happening in her mouth. And iron oxide is iron oxide. If there any pollutants, she'd have swallowed them anyway.

[Mr.Bill]

If you go to the dentist he'll tell you not to get one (or should) because it's bad for your teeth, and could seamingly mess up your bite too. which is a BITCH if it's messed up enough.

I know, my dad is a dentist KEKEKE

[Necrosis]

Look man I sat in chemistry for seven years, trust me there's a difference between what's floating about in the oxide.

Its not just about rusty nails you know...

[lolfighter]

I sat in chemistry for a little less than that. So while I may or may not know as much as you, I'm not witless.

Iron oxide is the end product of a chemical reaction between iron and oxygen. I don't remember in what proportion they react with each other, and am too rusty (olo pun) to remember how to find out, but the formula is somewhere along the lines of Fe + O = FeO.
So what you're saying is that FeO is not always just FeO. I'm willing to accept that if you will elaborate. I always accept a lesson, but only if it is actually taught to me.

[Dirty Harry Potter]

i think what's he's saying is that there's a difference between actual FeO and red bloodcells floating around in your blood. and FeO can be different in various ways, like it's "charge" - though, that's mostly a temporary thing irrc, since it will try to connect to other atoms or whatnot to become neutral. That and there are also "different" kinds iron, depending on how many electrons that HOVAR around the nucleus.

[Necrosis]

Clumps of FeO generated in the body will pick up other metals that happen to be floating about too. Because the blood is effectively a sealed unit, your main worries are a different metal sneaking in and getting oxidised - usually copper.


Now, FeO in the wider world is not "just" FeO. You've done chemistry (I'm counting University, not grammar school, otherwise it'd be 14 years, natch) so I don't have to explain Ferrous and Ferric iron. Other metals are floating around the mouth from amalgamated fillings, various foodstuffs, what you breathe in, and pretty much most bacteria you're going to meet in your life.

Secondly, molecules of oxide are not going to be "pure" oxide. They could contain bits of other elements that have been snagged up by the oxidation process. Chelates containing several metals. Stuff that floats about the mouth and generally doesn't do too much harm because it can't get "in". You may think "big deal" but remember that certain elements simply cannot be removed by the body, so letting them build up is a *bad* idea.

A piercing gives these a direct route to the blood. External piercings on skin aren't as bad, because of the way skin works, but internal ones on thin areas are the riskiest. Now, I know a ton of people who've had piercings, and so far all I heard bad about a tongue one was just that flap of skin one. At the same time, a tongue piercing is one of the riskiest because of the sheer amount of blood in the area. Its a sensitive spot to go poking around, and IF something should go wrong, then it will not go wrong in a small way. Interal piercings are either going to be ok, or disastrous, not much of a middle ground for them.

[lolfighter]

*feels enlightened*

[Necrosis]

I just dont like using long explanations chief. Also, when I try to explain things, I sometimes come off condescending, and thats not my intent at all.

Iron is a very annoying thing to learn in chemistry precisely because of the whole 2+ 3+ thing. Not happy memories. At. All.

[lolfighter]

That whole +2 +3 shebang is right annoying yo.

[esuna]

Not particulaly sure why i'm replying, on the most part it seems like preaching to the ****witted.

There's an actual very real danger with tongue piercing, no, it's not cancer, i won't go into explaining why, i don't think i should really waste my time explaining it, but the danger is facial paralysis.

Paralysis is only a problem if you have a bad piercer, and yes, it's permenant. If they pierce in the wrong place, or pierce at all (There is a chance that you won't be able to have a tongue piercing at all) they can really screw up and for the rest of your life your face will be broken.

But that's a very very very rare thing, as piercers in general are competant and know what they're doing. But that's also a very good reason as to why you should go to a good piercer, not a crappy one just because the crap one's cheap.

As for getting it done, sure, knock yourself out, i've had mine done for some 5 years now, other than the initial healing, never had a single problem with it.

As for the initial healing, it varies from person to person. It's impossible to say how your body will react to it, all i can tell you is what *could* happen, but then again, there's a small chance that none of them will happen.

The main one is the swelling of your tongue, this could last anything from 1-5 days, and believe me, it's very uncomfortable to do anything, even swallowing anything, eating is near impossible and drinking is painful as hell. On the most cases, people rarely swell for long, but it could be a long thing, i personally had 5 days of swelling, i didn't eat for all 5 of them, which looking back on it, is a bad idea. And then there's the usual things, bleeding (Not too common really), the usual generation of crap that you need to regulaly clean, general stinging or aching pain inside the piercing, and so on. But realy, the swelling is the bitch here.

And finally, bmezine.com will answer any question whatsoever about piercing.

EDIT: And from that site, here is a summary of any risks and such involved with tongue piercing, and for all you "OMGZ CANCAR" people, read this.

"While there may be fictional theoretical anecdotes illustrating this, there is no evidence supporting this theory."
"To be clear: tongue piercing does not lead to cancer!"

[SlickWill]

As far as the iron debate.  There is iron in your blood.  However, the SKIN gets irrated from some metals which aren't that inert, as in iron.  Therefore, it can cause problems.  It's a skin irratation, not a chemical reaction.  Moot point though, they use steel.  



Edit:  speling eror