Tongue Piercing, a Mother's View

When my son was in high school he announced he wanted to get his tongue pierced. This was when the practice was not as common as it is today. So naturally, I was horrified, but I also knew the fastest way to get a child to do something is to tell him not to.

I decided to ask our pediatrician's help in dissuading our son in eventually piercing his tongue. I asked the doctor if he could please share with my son, and myself, any medical reason why not to pierce his tongue. The doctor just shrugged, and said no big deal. He was absolutely no help whatsoever.

After failing with the doctor, I took another approach. I explained to our son that when he was eighteen , and living on his own, he had every right to pierce and tattoo to his heart's content. Until that time, no piercing or tattoos. Miraculously, our son respected our wishes.

When he turned eighteen, and was on his own, our son pieced his tongue, among other things, and began a tattooing odyssey that continues today.

I now know that it was the dentist I should have asked, not the doctor. As time went on, I learned from a friend, who is a dental hygienist, that mouth jewelry can damage the teeth's enamel. I thought about all the money I put into our children's teeth for braces.

When our son was in his mid-twenties he came for a visit and I noticed he'd removed his tongue stud. I asked him about it, and he explained that he'd chipped a tooth, again. He told me he finally realized it was pretty stupid to keep wearing it, since it was ruining his teeth.

I never learned how many times he actually chipped his teeth on the mouth jewelry, I don't think I wanted to know. But, I'll admit I was happy he finally removed it.

That was a few years ago. Recently a family member called to tell me her eighteen year old son had pieced his tongue. She was pretty upset. I asked her if she'd explained to him the damage the mouth jewelry might cause his teeth, (something I foolishly hadn't thought about when I was faced with that possibility).

Her answer was the affirmative, which led me to ask the question, even if I had thought to ask the dentist, instead of the doctor, would our son have listened? Would it have stopped him?

Probably not. Some things just need to be learned from experience.