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OK, can we look beyond the pierced tongue? To use a cliche that seems oddly appropriate here, there is a whole person hiding behind that thing. It is the case that she is worthless? Has she no redeeming qualities? I don't see why. It is possible that she hates her body or some such thing, but that doesn't mean she must be despised.

Now, on the other hand (and there's always the other hand) I think this practice is a vice and that should be discouraged. Certainly not with laws or constitutional amendments, but perhaps with a bit of healthy ridicule, such as what we are doing here.

This was an editorial from a 1997 issue of the J. of the NJ Dental Association: Signifying Nothing, or Something People are idiots. I'm insensitive, I know. But people are insensitive too. Right now I'm insensitive, but in the past I've also been an idiot; my kids think I'm an idiot now; and I have no guarantees about my future sanity. For some people being an idiot is an acute, periodic thing, but for a lot it seems chronic. For now, let me be insensitive and say people who have their tongues pierced are idiots. I notice most are teenagers (nowadays that includes young twenty-somethings too), and most teenagers are acute idiots. I know because I was a teen for a pretty long time and associated with quite a few others. I can assure you things have not changed much in thirty years either, because I am now the father of three teens. Believe me, teenagers are idiots. My problem is not with the teens, it is with the adults. When I was a teen I kind of knew I was an idiot, but always had the impression that there were wise, moral people that would eventually guide me from idiocy to newer frontiers of sane behavior. I discovered, however, that the biggest idiots are in the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government. Ask one of our leaders their opinion of the issue. They'll probably want to study it and consult with experts (on tongue piercing?). Then, so as not to offend anyone's unremunerated constitutional right to be an idiot, write legislation or legal opinions to make sure that you can be an idiot in a safe manner. You will be assured of this since our leaders all practice safe idiocy. Dentists, however, practice being doctors. That means they practice at being wise and moral. Practice. It is a frontier we never quite get to, but hey, at least we try. It is why I don't buy much of the doom and gloom about the survival of dentistry as a profession. Most dentists resist, and are repulsed by, the many vulgar intrusions of idiocy into the profession. To be a doctor is to attempt to make something out of life; to be an idiot is to make nothing of the gift. However, I do find that some dentists lack the courage to tell their leaders or patients bluntly, or even unbluntly, when they are acting like idiots. It may be insensitive, but it is honest. And if I remember my Plato, practicing to be honest is practicing to be moral, and practicing to be moral is practicing to be wise. Andrew Tanchyk, DMD East Brunswick