Tongue Piercing Aftercare

After getting your tongue pierced there are many things you must do in the initial stages. Tongue piercing aftercare is extremely important to facilitate healing and prevent infections. Of course your piercer will advise you on the proper steps to take, but we will give you a general guide of what to do in case you have forgotten.

Before we get in to the actual maintenance and aftercare, I want to take a moment to advise those who haven’t yet got their tongues pierced. It is extremely important to get your tongue pierced by a certified professional who uses clean and sterile equipment. A tongue piercing is the same as an open piercing wound and needs to be treated as such. The mouth already contains many bacteria and it is important you do everything possible to keep it clean. Without following a good tongue piercing aftercare schedule you are setting yourself up for disaster.

Getting your tongue pierced doesn’t hurt as much as you think. The body’s natural ability to take care of pain is enough to overcome this small procedure. When you first get your piercing you will be set up with a long tongue bar. This is to help offset swelling and make it a bit easier to clean the inner surface of your new hole.

It usually takes a couple of weeks to heal your tongue if everything goes well. Unfortunately not everything is perfect and some people will develop infections. The over use of mouth wash and not following a regular cleaning habit can lead to problems. That is why tongue piercing aftercare is so important. Here are a few tips to keep your piercing clean.

1.    You should always wash your hands with an antibacterial soap before putting even 1 finger in your mouth.

2.    You will be given or recommended to buy a cleaning solution. Buy it! You will need to clean your piercing once in the morning and once before bed. After the first few days you will also be able to use a sea salt mouth rinse. As we mentioned before, don’t go crazy on the mouth wash like Listerine. Once or twice per day is fine.

3.    For the first couple of weeks try to avoid hard foods. If at all possible go on a liquid diet. You won’t believe the amount of pain you can cause yourself in the beginning from not taking this advice.

4.    Before you call it quits for the day and jump in to bed, make sure your barbell is tight and won’t have a chance to worm its way apart in the middle of the night. This serves a few purposes. You don’t want to swallow any parts and you don’t want to reopen the wound in the middle of your tongue.

5.    Wait as long as possible before doing anything that involves your tongue. Even swimming should be avoided because of the amount of bacteria in the water. This is especially true for public swimming pools. Smoking will also cause problems to an unhealed tongue.

6.    Don’t’ try to remove the barbell on your own. It is very difficult to get it back in and you may end up doing damage to the inside of your hole.

I hope you follow these tongue piercing aftercare tidbits and enjoy your piercing.