diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-tornado/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/tornado/__init__.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-tornado/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/tornado/__init__.py
index 0939b388ef..2d77996983 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-tornado/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/tornado/__init__.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-tornado/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/tornado/__init__.py
@@ -407,7 +407,7 @@ def _get_full_handler_name(handler):
 
 
 def _start_span(self, handler) -> _TraceContext:
-    start_time_ns = _time_ns()
+    start_time_ns = time_ns()
     start_time = default_timer()
 
     span, token = _start_internal_or_server_span(
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ def _finish_span(self, handler, error=None):
         if isinstance(error, tornado.web.HTTPError):
             status_code = error.status_code
             if not ctx and status_code == 404:
-                ctx = _start_span(self, handler, _time_ns())
+                ctx = _start_span(self, handler)
         else:
             status_code = 500
             reason = None
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-tornado/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/tornado/client.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-tornado/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/tornado/client.py
index bd8b066fe5..1513f34f3a 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-tornado/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/tornado/client.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-tornado/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/tornado/client.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ def fetch_async(
     args,
     kwargs,
 ):
-    start_time = _time_ns()
+    start_time = time_ns()
 
     # Return immediately if no args were provided (error)
     # or original_request is set (meaning we are in a redirect step).