Tongue piercing is most popularly done with straight barbell. The most common gauge used in tongue piercing is a 14 ga. In order to accommodate the swelling, the early length of the pierced body jewelry should be at least 3/4″. When the tongue rings piercing has become well, it can be replaced to a shorter barbell of 9/16″, or 14 mm, which is the most usual size of tongue rings. Wearing a shorter barbell after the piercing is healed is suggested.
Barbell tongue ring fashion of body jewelry is composed of a straight bar and with a bead on each end, one or both beads unscrewable for replacement and/or replacing of the beads. Often one of the beads is fixed, either via epoxy or welding, so that only one bead is used to install or remove the jewelry. Usually, there are only right-handed barbell threads.
There are roughly about 5 kinds of barbells for body jewelry. The internally threaded barbells are little bit more costly than externally threaded barbells as there will be extra machining and labor involved. It is also considered superior to the external barbells as it is less likely to cause damage or irritation especially at the time of piercing. An internally threaded barbell has a bead with a receiving tube machine into it which connects with a threaded post extending from the center.
Although the externally threaded barbells have become less common, the internally threaded barbells have increased in popularity. It is named so because shaft of the bar has threads at both ends to permit beads with receiving threads to be attached.
Curved barbells are also known as a navel curve and are named because of their curvature. It is mechanically identical to straight barbells except that they are curved. Curvature on a curved barbell tongue rings can range from about straight to circular, with some barbells basically being spiral, with the ends overlapping but separated to permit the insertion of the body jewelry. A variations on this design is a J-bar, a slightly curved barbell, sometimes referred to as a banana bell or banana barbell, with a 90 degree bend near one end, used in vertical navel piercings to position the decorative end of the body jewelry more appropriately. They can be either internally threaded or externally
threaded.
Circular barbell tongue rings, also famous as horseshoe barbell tongue rings are used in many types of piercings. Their shape is what gives them their name.
Surface bars are used in surface piercings. Barbells for surface piercing have a pair of 90 degree bends in the same direction, so they can be used for surface piercing. Because of this design the pressure that would be caused by other body jewelry designs that interfere with the healing is minimized.
