Push your top lip up in front of a mirror and look at the web running from the inside of your lip to the gum above your front teeth. That band is the upper labial frenulum, it is the entire subject of a smiley piercing, and it is the one piece of anatomy on this page you have almost certainly never examined. Depth is what matters, not length. A ring needs to sit within the body of that tissue, with margin either side, and a good number of frenulums simply do not offer it.
So the honest version, up front: this is one of the shorter-lived piercings we do. The tissue is thin and mobile, migration is common, and a ring here sits directly in front of the enamel of your two upper incisors. Some people wear one happily for years. Others lose it inside twelve months. We would rather you booked the look than the piercing, hear where your own frenulum falls on that spectrum, and decide afterwards. Being told no is a normal outcome here.
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Six things we are looking at when we lift your lip, and any one of them can end the conversation
Almost nobody arrives having looked at their own frenulum. They arrive having seen a photograph of somebody else's, which is a different thing entirely, because the piece of tissue in that photograph might be twice the depth of yours.
So start there. Lift your top lip with a finger in front of a mirror. The band running from the inside of the lip up to the gum above your two front teeth is what we are talking about. Now look at how much of it there actually is between the free edge and where it merges into the gum. That measurement, not the length of the band and not how it looks from the front, is what determines whether a ring can live in it.
Why depth rather than length: a piercing needs tissue on both sides of the channel to hold onto. Put a ring too close to the free edge of a thin band and you have not made a piercing, you have made a slit waiting to happen. Give it a proper body of tissue to sit in and it has something to heal into and something to resist being pulled through.
Then the other things. Where the band attaches, because one joining low at the necks of your teeth puts a ring against the most fragile gum you own. How tightly it tethers your lip, because tissue that pulls taut every time you speak is tissue that will not sit still long enough to heal. Whether it was torn at some point in childhood, which more people have done than remember doing it, and which tends to leave a short tight band behind.
None of this takes long. It is a lift, a light and about two minutes, and it costs nothing. What it does is replace a photograph on your phone with an actual answer about your own mouth.
Lift your top lip in a mirror. That thin web running from the inside of the lip up to the gum is the upper labial frenulum. Everyone has one, hardly anyone has examined their own, and yours decides this entire conversation.
Not how long the band is. How much tissue sits between the free edge and where it meets the gum. A ring needs to pass through that body of tissue with margin on both sides, and thin frenulums do not offer it.
Some frenulums join the gum well above the tooth necks, leaving comfortable room. Others attach low, right at the margin, and a ring placed there would be resting on the most vulnerable gum in your mouth.
Push your lip up and watch what the band does. If it pulls tight and restricts movement, jewelry sitting in it gets tugged with every word you say, and constant tugging is what turns a healing piercing into a migrating one.
Directly behind a smiley sit your two upper central incisors and the gum above them. Nothing else we pierce puts metal that close to a tooth surface by default, which is why the enamel talk comes before the jewelry talk.
Plenty of people split this band as children and never knew. A previously torn frenulum often heals short and tight, and it is one of the more common reasons we look and say no.
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See the BVLA story →Two of these depend on a band of web. The rest are where people go when that band says no.
Through the band above your top front teeth. Hidden at rest, visible when you grin, and entirely dependent on that band having enough depth to hold a ring.
The same idea in the lower lip. The lower band is usually thinner than the upper one, so the candidacy question is even tighter and the answer is no more often.
If your frenulum will not take a smiley, this is usually the placement people move to. Sited around the vein map underneath rather than a band of web. See the <a href='/lp/tongue-piercing-los-angeles/'>tongue page</a>.
The other direction people go: a visible piercing through the lip itself rather than a hidden one behind it. Far more tissue to work with, far longer odds of keeping it. See the <a href='/lp/lip-piercing-los-angeles/'>lip page</a>.
Once a smiley has settled, the useful change is usually downward: a thinner gauge or a tighter diameter that keeps the metal further from your enamel. Not a bigger, prettier piece.
Clear next step
Two minutes with your lip lifted tells you whether this is possible on you. Start there.
Recommended first step
Choose a facial or oral piercing appointment with clearer placement guidance.
Quick to heal is not the same as likely to last, which is the whole tension on this page
| Piercing Type | Location | Initial Healing | Full Healing | Pain Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smiley | Upper lip frenulum | 4-8 weeks | 2-3 months | 3-4/10 |
| Tongue | Center of tongue | 4-6 weeks | 2-3 months | 4-5/10 |
5000+ clientsThe needle is the quickest part of this appointment by some distance
Before anything else. We lift the lip, check the depth of the band, where it attaches, how much it tethers, and the state of the gum behind it. This is the part of the appointment that most often ends in a no.
If the tissue is workable we stop and go through what a ring sitting in front of your incisors means over years. You decide after that conversation, not before it.
Alcohol-free antiseptic rinse, then a diameter picked to follow your frenulum closely. Small and thin is the whole design brief here, not a compromise on it.
Single-use sterile needle, pouch opened in front of you, through a thin band of tissue in well under a second. This is one of the least painful things we do, which catches most people out.
How to spot the band thinning, when to come back, and the fact that taking a migrating smiley out early leaves far less mark than waiting does.
Not a disclaimer at the bottom of a form. A conversation, in the chair, before anything is opened.
Here is the geometry nobody draws for you. A smiley ring sits in a band of tissue that hangs immediately in front of your two upper central incisors and the gum above them. Not near them. In front of them, separated by a millimetre or two of nothing. Close your mouth and the ring rests against enamel. Talk, drink, chew, and it moves across that enamel.
Enamel does not grow back. That is the entire reason this section exists and the reason it comes before the jewelry case rather than after it. Wear from a ring is gradual, painless and permanent, and the gum margin above those same teeth is thin tissue over bone with very little in reserve. Those two upper incisors are also, unhelpfully, the most visible teeth you own.
What reduces it: a ring sized small enough to follow the frenulum closely instead of hanging forward off it, a thinner gauge, and a smooth bead rather than anything with an edge to it. What does not reduce it is good intentions. A ring two millimetres too big will find your teeth however careful you are, which is why sizing on this placement is not a style decision.
What we ask of you in return is two things. Tell your dentist you have it, so somebody is looking at that gum margin twice a year with proper equipment. And accept in advance that if wear starts showing up, the right answer is to take the piercing out. A smiley is a piercing you should be willing to lose. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a ring.
On most placements jewelry is where the fun starts. Here it is a set of constraints.
Every choice on this placement pushes in the same direction: smaller, thinner, closer. A ring that follows the curve of your frenulum has less room to swing forward into your teeth than one that stands proud of it, and a thinner gauge puts less bulk in a band of tissue that did not have much to spare in the first place. This is the one piercing where we will actively talk you out of the bigger, prettier piece.
Which also means the upgrade path runs backwards compared with everywhere else. On a healed lobe you graduate to something more elaborate. On a healed smiley the sensible change is usually to something smaller than what you started in.
We do not list a figure for this one, and here is the reason why
Jewelry sold separately
Jewelry sold separately
Jewelry sold separately
Jewelry sold separately
Jewelry sold separately
Jewelry sold separately
Why there is no number above for a smiley or a frowny: whether either is possible on you depends on tissue we have not looked at yet, so a price quoted in advance would be a price for something we may well decline to do. Come in, we read the frenulum, and the fee is confirmed in the same conversation as the answer. The placements listed with figures are the ones people most often move to instead, and those prices are fixed. Jewelry is priced separately from the piercing in every case.
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Bunny Vogt, a dedicated Senior Piercer at our studio since 2019, is known for her artistic eye and expertise in ear styling and curation. She excels at facial piercings, navel work, and creating balanced piercing arrangements that reflect each client's unique style.
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Blue Mason, our Master Piercer and studio founder since 2004, brings over two decades of body piercing expertise. From simple nose piercings to advanced genital work, Blue's technical mastery ensures perfect placement every time.
We turn people away from this piercing more often than from anything else on the menu, and it is worth spelling out exactly what gets somebody turned away rather than leaving it as a vague caution. Five things end the conversation.
There is no outside to this piercing, which throws people. No saline on a cotton bud, nothing to dab twice a day. The whole thing lives behind your lip, so the entire aftercare routine is a rinse, and the rinse is owed after every single thing that passes your lips except water. Coffee counts. One biscuit counts.
Alcohol-free mouthwash or sterile saline, about thirty seconds, and push it up behind the top lip rather than just swilling it round your mouth. Skip spicy and acidic food for the first fortnight because it will sting, not because it is dangerous. Do not play with the ring, and be careful brushing along that gum line, since a hard-bristled brush catching the jewelry is a common way to set things back. Then the part specific to this placement: every few weeks, lift your lip and look at the band between the two holes. You are checking it has not thinned. That habit is worth more than any amount of mouthwash.
Book AppointmentBarely sore, mild swelling, and most people are surprised how little there is to it. Rinse after everything. The main risk in this stretch is complacency, because a piercing this comfortable does not feel like it needs a routine, and it does.
Mouth tissue heals quickly, so by now it feels finished. This is also the window where migration shows itself, and the sign is the band of tissue between the two holes looking thinner than it did. Check it. Coming in at the first hint buys options; coming in at the tearing stage does not.
Healed for most people somewhere in here. What nobody tells you is that healed is not the finish line for this one. Thin mobile tissue keeps working on the jewelry for as long as it is in, and a fair share of smileys are gone within a year or two, either migrated out or taken out over tooth contact. Worn as something you might enjoy for a while, it is a good piercing. Worn as a lifetime plan, it will probably disappoint you.
Open 8am to 8pm, seven days. The thing worth planning around is that a decent proportion of people who come in for this leave without it, so treat the first visit as an assessment rather than an appointment.
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5000+ clients2625 Main Street in Santa Monica, open 8am to 8pm every day of the week. Metered parking runs along Main and on the residential streets behind it, which fill up from late morning at weekends. If you are only coming for the frenulum read, it is a short visit and worth doing on a quiet weekday.
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Including the two people are least keen to ask: what it does to your teeth, and how long it will last
Push your top lip up with a finger, in front of a mirror. That thin band of tissue running from the inside of your lip to the gum above your front teeth is the upper labial frenulum, and a smiley piercing goes through it. Not through the lip, not through the gum. Through the flap between them. It stays hidden with your mouth closed and shows when you grin, which is where the name comes from and also why people are surprised the first time they see how small a piece of tissue is doing all the work.
We confirm the fee at the consultation rather than listing one, and that is not evasion. Whether a smiley is even possible on you depends on tissue we have not seen yet, so quoting a number before that look would be putting the cart in front of the horse. Come in, we assess the frenulum, and if it is workable you get the fee and the jewelry options in the same conversation. Jewelry is always priced separately from the piercing itself.
Most clients rate smiley piercing pain at 3-4 out of 10—one of the least painful piercings we offer. The frenulum is a thin piece of tissue with relatively few nerve endings, so the actual piercing takes only a second and feels like a quick pinch. Many clients at our Los Angeles smiley piercing studio are surprised at how fast and easy it is. Post-piercing, you may experience mild tenderness and swelling for a few days.
Smiley piercings typically heal in 4-8 weeks, making them one of the faster-healing oral piercings. However, full healing can take up to 12 weeks depending on your aftercare routine and individual healing ability. At our LA piercing studio, we provide comprehensive aftercare instructions to ensure your lip frenulum piercing heals properly and quickly.
Often, yes, and we would rather you heard it here. A frenulum is thin, mobile tissue with no great depth to hold jewelry, so migration and rejection happen more here than in most placements. Plenty of smileys are worn happily for years. Plenty of others are gone inside twelve months, either because the tissue thinned out or because the wearer decided the gum contact was not worth it. If you want a piercing to keep for a decade, this is not the one to pin that on. Take it as something you might enjoy for a while.
A frenulum with too little depth is the usual one. There has to be enough tissue for the ring to sit within, not just skim across the front edge, and a fair number of people simply do not have that. A very short frenulum that tethers the lip tightly is another, because the jewelry gets tugged every time you talk. Existing recession on the gum above your front teeth is a third, and that one is a straight no from us. We look, we say which of these applies, and being told no is a normal outcome here rather than a rare one.
Small, thin and close-fitting. Typically 16 gauge, in implant-grade titanium, with a diameter chosen so the ring follows the frenulum rather than hanging off it. Everything about the sizing is aimed at keeping metal away from the enamel of your front teeth. A ring one or two millimetres larger than it needs to be will swing forward and tap those teeth all day, which is the mechanism behind most of the damage stories you have read.
Real, and higher than most oral piercings because of where the ring lives. It sits directly in front of the gum margin above your two upper central incisors, which is thin tissue over bone with very little to spare. Enamel wear and recession are both documented outcomes. A correctly sized small ring reduces the contact a great deal but does not remove it. This is why we talk about your teeth before we talk about jewelry, and why we would rather you had this conversation with your dentist as well as with us.
A rinse after everything that passes your lips except water. Not twice a day. Every time. Coffee, a snack at your desk, a piece of fruit on the way home. Alcohol-free mouthwash or sterile saline, thirty seconds, swished up behind the lip rather than just around the mouth. There is no external cleaning to do at all, which surprises people, because the whole piercing lives inside. That single routine is the entire aftercare regime and it runs for the whole healing period.
You can walk in to be looked at, and that is the visit worth making first. We are open 8am to 8pm every day. Because there is a genuine chance your frenulum will not take this, turning up expecting to leave pierced sets you up for a wasted afternoon. Come and get an honest read on the tissue, and if the answer is yes, either carry on that day if we have the time or book a slot that is not squeezed between two other clients.
At Apollo Studio, you must be 18 years or older to get a smiley piercing. We do not perform lip frenulum piercings on minors, even with parental consent. This policy exists because oral piercings carry specific risks and require mature aftercare compliance. Visit our Los Angeles piercing studio with a valid photo ID to get your smiley piercing.
Lift your lip and look at the band of tissue between the two ring holes every few weeks. What you are watching for is that band getting visibly thinner, or the holes creeping closer to the free edge of the frenulum than they were. Persistent redness that never quite settles is the other sign. Come in as soon as you notice any of it. Sometimes a smaller or thinner ring buys the piercing more time. Sometimes the right answer is to take it out before the tissue tears, and taking it out early leaves far less mark than waiting does.
Apollo sits at 2625 Main St in Santa Monica, a block from the beach and easy to reach from anywhere on the Westside. Here's roughly how long it takes to get to us for tattoos and piercings:
There's metered street parking on Main Street and Ocean Park Blvd, plus a public lot on 2nd Street a short walk away. We recommend giving yourself an extra 10 minutes to park on weekends — Main Street gets busy with the farmers market and beach traffic. If you're running late, text us at the studio and we'll hold your appointment.
Two minutes, no fee, and an answer about your own tissue rather than somebody else's photograph.
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