Here is how you should go ahead with your tongue piercing cleaning:

The main thing with tongue piercing cleaning is oral hygiene. So go in for a non-alcohol anti-bacterial mouth rinse. If you want to use Listerine, remember that it can be quite strong and you may need to dilute it with water before use at least for the first two weeks. Undiluted mouthwash can cause ulcers and slow down your tongue’s natural ability to heal. Rinse out your mouth after each meal and snack!

When you brush your teeth, do not brush your tongue as it can irritate the tongue piercing. If there is a yellowish film on your tongue or a whitish ring around the barbell under the tongue after a couple of days, there is no need to worry, as it is part of the healing process!

Remember never to use the following with a fresh tongue piercing cleaning: Hydrogen peroxide, Epsom salts, table salt, tea tree oil, Betadine, Neosporin or any other ointment. Only use items that the aftercare instructions specifically list.

Some plaque can form on your jewelry and this must be removed carefully. You can use a very soft toothbrush to do this. Once the piercing heals, you can use an anti-plaque mouthwash. The jewelry can also be removed and cleaned once a month.

First mornings after the tongue piercing make sure you have cold water and ice cubes at hand, since the swelling is maximum during this time.

Avoid very hot or spicy food. Stick with cold foods instead during the healing process.

You may want to ensure that the balls on the barbell are tight, so remember to wash your hands clean with germicidal soap before you touch your piercing.

Another thing: don’t chew fingernails or put your pen in your mouth. No oral sex or kissing at least for two weeks to avoid infections!

At the first sign of any problem with your piercing, get in touch with your piercer. Never attempt to remove the barbell on your own. After a couple of weeks, go back to your piercer to get a shorter barbell on your tongue piercing as the right size will keep your teeth getting damaged!

But anyway – even though it heals fast, there are a few tongue piercing aftercare tips you have to always abide by to make sure your fresh tongue piercing is not going to get infected. However, it’s worth pointing out that thanks to the natural mouth’s microclimate your fresh tongue piercing is very little likely to get infected at all!

These aftercare guidelines are universal for all kinds of the tongue piercing. Whether you have a simple vertical tongue piercing, horizontal tongue piercing or tongue web piercing the basic principles remain the same. The tongue piercing aftercare tips don’t involve treating the very piercing place with a cotton bud, for example.

As you can imagine, the mouth is constantly getting salivated and kept moist so it would be of a very little help to try to wipe the very tongue piercing’s place with a saline solution. It would be much easier just to take the cleaning solution in the mouth and rinse it, wouldn’t it?

Well…Yes! So this is the first tongue piercing aftercare recommendation.

Rinse your mouth a few times daily using saline solution or an alcohol free mouth wash. This way you’re going to facilitate the healing process and that’s the most important thing right after getting the swelling gone.

Do it after the meals and before going to bed to clean the food remains and other kind of microscopic plaque. And if you’re using mouth wash that contains some alcohol, dilute it making a ¼ solution.

The second tongue piercing aftercare tip – ease your tongue’s swelling by using plenty of cold drinks and chewing on ice during the first weeks after getting the tongue pierced.

Right after getting pierced your tongue will swell up and your first tongue ring should be longer than you’d wear normally. It’s going to be especially hard in the mornings. Having been lying down the whole night will cause the blood pump into your head more than during the day and the tongue therefore will get swollen following the piercing.

So drink cold water and suck ice cubes frequently during the first days after the piercing. And try not to eat or drink anything warm or spicy as such things will irritate the fresh tongue piercing.

The next important tongue piercing aftercare step is to change your first tongue ring you got inserted at the moment of piercing to shorter tongue body jewelry. It’s very important because you have to prevent any possible damage to the fresh piercing.

After around 10 days after getting pierced the tongue’s swelling will be gone and then you can insert a new, shorter tongue ring. I’d suggest you visit the piercing studio where you got it done and most likely your piercer is going to tell you that.

When the tongue is back to normal and you’re getting the final tongue ring, make sure the beads sit tightly on the surface of the tongue.

Every now and then check that the piece of tongue jewelry is sitting normally in the piercing and isn’t about to fall out. You know, sometimes the ball may become loose and you certainly don’t want to accidentally choke on it!

So wash your hands before touching the tongue ring and make sure the balls are screwed on securely.

But one tongue piercing aftercare advice can never be underestimated – don’t take the piercing out even when it’s well healed! Your tongue piercing is different to the other body piercings and will close up very quickly if left without body jewelry!