And it's very possible to puncture a nerve during tongue-splitting. If this happens, you may experience a numb tongue, which is a sign of nerve damage. The injured nerve may affect your sense of taste, or how you move your mouth. And damage to the tongue's blood vessels can cause serious blood loss.
Tongue splitting, which involves cutting the tongue in half to create a lizard-like forked effect, has gained popularity among body modification enthusiasts. Experts say it can lead to complications such as significant blood loss, infection, nerve damage and problems with breathing and swallowing.
Splitting the tongue may lead immediately to various complications, including excessive blood loss and swelling of the tongue, which can in turn cause difficulty with breathing and, at least theoretically, suffocation.
So more good news for you: It's totally reversible. In fact, if the exposed flesh isn't closed properly after the split (either with sutures or cauterization), your tongue will just go ahead and remerge on its own [source: Loftus].
If you are under 18, it's illegal for someone to perform a body modification on you like earlobe stretching, scarring or tongue splitting. It is illegal for anyone to do this to you, even if you want them to. If you perform a body modification procedure on someone under 18 years old, you will be breaking the law.
If you have your tongue split, the initial healing time will be 1 to 2 weeks. By then you should be able to eat normally, but you will have to retrain yourself to speak without slurring your words or a lisp. Just as with a tongue piercing, it will take 4-6 weeks for your tongue to fully heal.
The tongue generally heals in 1–2 weeks, during which time the person may have difficulty with speech or their normal dietary habits. Splitting may be reversed surgically by removal of sutures, excision of healed tissue on edges, and re-suturing the tongue together.
Average Cost of Tongue splitting (in the U.S.)
The cost ranges from $1500 to $2500 when your procedure is performed by a trained medical professional.
Tongue splitting is illegal in Delaware, New York, Tennessee, and Texas. In some states, the practice cannot be performed on minors at all. In other cases, it cannot be performed without the consent of the parent. The practice also cannot be done without the consent of the person receiving the procedure.
And you'll probably be glad to know that your specialist will make your mouth good and numb with a local anesthetic before making the cut. From there, some common form of cauterization tool will be applied to your tongue -- a cautery pen, an argon laser or a heated blade, for instance.
Fissured tongue occurs in approximately 5 percent of Americans. It may be evident at birth or develop during childhood. The exact cause of fissured tongue isn't known. However, it may sometimes occur in association with an underlying syndrome or condition, such as malnutrition or Down syndrome.
Because a fissured tongue can cluster in families, it may be genetically inherited. Although other causes of fissured tongue are unknown, it may appear along with other conditions such as these: Geographic tongue, also known as benign migratory glossitis (BMG).
Both segments of a bifurcated tongue are able to move independently, meaning that people with a split tongue have more manual dexterity -- which is said to be quite the benefit when it comes to kissing [source: Siegel].
If you are under 18, it's illegal for someone to perform a body modification on you like earlobe stretching, scarring or tongue splitting. It is illegal for anyone to do this to you, even if you want them to. If you perform a body modification procedure on someone under 18 years old, you will be breaking the law.
Surgical resections alone create volumetric muscle loss whereby muscle tissue cannot self-regenerate within the tongue. In these cases, the tongue is reconstructed typically in the form of autologous skin flaps.
What About the Cloverleaf Tongue? If you can twist your tongue into a cloverleaf, you are gifted. It is one of the rarest tricks. According to a study published in the journal Dysphagia, 83.7% of the population could roll their tongue.
Some like the way it looks, some want to try something new or reclaim a part of themselves. I knew a girl who had a bad stutter and had her tongue pierced as a part of her way of accepting herself.
What about kissing and oral sex? Like any oral piercing, you should wait until the piercing has healed before exchanging bodily fluids. It's important to remember you have an open wound in your mouth, so you're exchanging not only saliva but blood, lymph, bacteria, and whatever else.
The History of The Tongue Piercing
The idea behind getting a tongue ring was to honor the Gods and by inflicting pain, showing one's honor. Tongue piercing began as a religious practice more than an artistic or decorative practice.
Piercing the tongue has a long history in religious and performance practices. Mesoamericans such as the Aztecs practiced this as well as other perforations as a part of offerings to their deities. Asian Spirit Mediums of the Far East practiced tongue piercing as an offering and proof of trance state.
An unhealthy tongue. If your tongue is a different colour than pink, or has large patches of white, brown, black, or another colour, this might indicate a specific health issue. Similarly, if you have large bumps or no bumps at all, you may also want to speak to a doctor.
A pink tongue is healthy and normal. A red tongue may indicate heat in the body like a fever or a hormonal imbalance. A reddish purple tongue is a sign that there may be inflammation or an infection in the body. A pale pink tongue may be a sign of a vitamin deficiency, a weak immune system or a lack of energy.
Cloverleaf Tongue: This is the most difficult type of tongue-twisting, where the person folds his tongue into multiple bends forming a clover-leaf shape. Some people with this ability can create three bends, while there are others who can even create four bends.
Most cuts on the tongue or palate heal on their own and do not need stitches, unless they are very large or don't stop bleeding on their own. Cuts on the inside of the lip don't usually need stitches.