Each practice has its potential medical complications.
Oral surgeons are particularly worried about tongue piercing.
With a wound on the tongue, and this is a wound, bacteria can easily enter and an infection can quickly follow. There is also the added risk of potentially unsterilized needles and the transmission of HIV and hepatitis in the piercing process itself, he added. Psychologist Karen Steinberg in the Department of Psychiatry at UConn Health Center, said young people often struggle with developing a sense of self, both physically and emotionally. They may be drawn toward behaviors that help them to define themselves, such as body ornamentation, including tongue piercing. There can be a positive and necessary side of this self-defining process.