Gum recession due to tongue piercing

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Wednesday November 26th, 2008 @ 8:06 AM

Filed under: Tongue

I was curious about reducing the speed of gum recession without completely removing my tongue piercing. I got it pierced about 4 years ago and have since stretched it to an 8g. I didn’t notice any problems until I was looking at my teeth. On my lower front teeth, the gum line is dropping in the back. I’ve switched to a retainer which is not very comfortable. What are your thoughts on domed acrylic balls? Will this aid in preventing further recession?

Thanks.

It doesn’t really matter what material you use as it will invariably be harder than gum tissue. If the ball is resting against your gums then you can try is a shorter bar, however, this all depends on whether or not you can go shorter. I wouldn’t recommend anything shorter than 12mm in a tongue piercing. The key is to find something that isn’t going to be coming into contact with your gums and if this can’t be done then it is best to retire the piercing. Gum recession isn’t reversible and can lead to tooth loss. A piercing really isn’t worth losing your front teeth over.

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