18 year old DD wants tongue piercing

[DannyOD]

She is 18 next Monday and along with a tattoo she wants her tongue pierced. She has numerous other piercings (belly, nose, cartilage) and I am fine with that as well as the tattoo but I am just worried that a tongue piercing has sexual connotations or am I just out of date and it doesn’t mean that anymore?

I have a friend who is a dentist and another a nurse - both quite liberal but have said to talk my DDs out of getting tongue pierced due to complications that can happen

The worst that could happen is that the piercing migrates/rejects, which you would notice and go back to the piercer about.... Not strictly true that one. I’ve heard of some pretty serious infections. Yes they may not have looked after the piercings properly but these infections were life threatening. Some of the piercing sites also say that a tongue piercing can become dislodged then get lodged in the lung.

I've also come across people who had them and took them out because they damage teeth. And you don't grow new teeth.

Appearance - meh. Who will see?

EveryoneTalks

Obviously an infection is worse than migration/rejection, but I've known far more people who have suffered a rejection than an infection, and have always been told that it was more likely than an infection if you look after your piercing etc.

Tongue piercings can be dislodged. Mine does sometimes because of the balls in the wrong size for the bar (I have a double piercing, and one time my ball came off and I lost it and had to make do with a spare), but generally this shouldn't happen too much. It's more likely due to being in an area that is moved around a lot. I just tighten the balls everyday and check for looseness.

It's not necessarily about being 'edgy', it's about liking something.

The example I gave was in the food industry (for a large food brand) in the early 2000’s. The role in question spent half the time in a manufacturing plant were absolutely no jewellery is allowed (including wedding bands). So she was asked to remove the piercing. Just as a male worker would have been asked to remove a wedding band.

She also presented to senior buyers / customers which was problematic as she spoke with a lisp when the tongue piercing was in.

Wasn’t my decision. Was HR’s at the time. And this was almost 20 years ago (not that i’m justifying it).

The sad reality is, she will most probably get unwanted comments. But her decision.

It's a concealed piercing. No one will see it unless she shows them. If she takes it out, there's no unsightly scar (maybe a little mark on her tongue)

I had mine done at 18. I took it out at about 30 I think.

Shocked at the post that a woman had to take hers out because of comments men in the workplace made!!

Oh and most people I know with a tongue piercing do not speak with a lisp! Perhaps during the healing process when it is healing but not usually.

Sexual comments I would expect from teenagers, not adults.

I'm 30 and have never heard of any sexual connotations relating to a piercing...

A tongue piercing...

I'm 35 and never heard of if having sexual connotations. I used to really want mine done but after watching Bad Girls where they did a dodgy one with a needle it kind of put me off. Still kind of fancy one but think I'm a bit old now plus I don't want to make my lisp worse.

@NorthernSpirit I know it wasn’t your decision but I can’t believe instead of removing the men who were making sexual (presumably unwanted) comments, they told her to remove her piercing.

Sorry that was directed at northern but now I've read your response it sounds like she was asked to remove it for Health & Safety??? Your original post is a bit misleading. Obviously male comments re sex are bang out of order nevertheless.

My 16 year old had hers pierced without discussing/asking me I was pretty shocked she would want it done tbh and gave her a lecture about infections etc but obvs it was too late for all that! I know it sounds weird but its not actually that noticeable