Q. Is tongue piercing safe?

A. Please don’t do it. We have read a number of cases in dental journals about tongue piercing resulting in all kinds of problems. To begin with, your tongue is a vascular organ, which means it has lots of blood vessels, so when it is pierced, there will be a great amount of swelling. This may cause difficulty in swallowing and breathing. Furthermore, the barbell that is placed to initially on your tongue can come unscrewed, swallowed and then stuck on your lung. Whatever the case may be, it may require you to get surgery.