Tongue piercing is most popularly done with straight barbell. 14 Ga is the most general gauge used. In order to give room for swelling, the initial length of the pierced barbell should be at least 3/4″. The piercing once became well can be changed to a shorter barbell of 9/16″(14mm) which is the most common size.

Straight barbell tongue ring style piercing body jewlry is made of a straight bar and with a bead on each end, one or both beads are un-screwable for removal and/or replacing of the beads. Often one of the beads is united, either via epoxy or welding, so that only one bead is used to fix or remove the body jewelry. Straight barbell tongue ring threads are mostly right-handed.

There are approximately about 5 types of straight barbell tounge rings. The internally threaded barbell tounge rings are little bit more expensive than outer threaded straight barbell tounge rings
as there will be additional tooling and labor involved. It is also thought superior to the external straight barbell tonge rings, as it is less likely to cause loss an irritation especially at the time of piercing. The bead in an internal threaded tongue ring has a receiving tube machine into
it with a threaded post extending from the center, which mates with the threaded receiving tube on the bar.

The externally threaded straight barbell tonge rings has become less common as the popularity of the internally threaded increased. Both end of the tongue ring can be screwed on and off.

Curved barbell body jewlry is also famous, as a navel curve and are named because of their curvature. It is mechanically identical to straight barbell tounge rings, instead of that they are curved. Curvature on a curved barbell tongue ring can range from almost straight to circular, with some barbells basically being spiral, with the ends overlapping but separated to allow the insertion
of the body jewlry. Curved barbell tounge rings can either be internally or externally threaded.

Navel or curve tongue ring piercings are named due to their curvature. A curved barbell is mechanically identical to a straight barbell, instead for being curved. Curvature on a curved barbell can range from circular to almost straight, with some barbells actually being spiral, with the ends overlapping but separated to permit the insertion of the body jewlry. A variation on this design is a J-bar, a slightly curved barbell
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 tounge rings, also famous as horseshoe barbells are used in many types of piercings. They are named so due to their shape.

Surface piercings use surface bar tounge rings In order to use this tongue ring for surface piercing it has a pair of 90 degree bends in the same direction. Because of this design the pressure that would be
affected by other body jewlry designs that participate to rejection in healing surface piercings is minimized.