Tongue piercing is risky

A new warning about the dangers of tongue piercings was issued yesterday after a woman needed surgery to remove a metal rod when her tongue healed over it.

The painful process happened just two weeks after the 28-year-old had her tongue pierced, copying celebrities such as Mel B, Prodigy singer Keith Flint and Princess Anne's daughter Zara Phillips.

Doctors have already condemned the practice, saying it increases the risks of life-threatening infections, prolonged bleeding and disease.

Yesterday, Tamer Theodossy, a registrar at University College London Hospital, told how a barbell in the woman's tongue became completed embedded.

'Piercing also carries a high risk of infection with the possibility of transmission of organisms such as HIV, hepatitis B and C, herpes simplex virus, Epstein-Barr virus and candida,' Mr Theodossy told the British Dental Journal.

While most piercings outside the body did not pose a problem, he added, the severity of the complications associated with tongue piercing made the practice difficult to condone.