subject: Aglossia Is A Serious Dental Abnormality [print this page] Aglossia refers to the condition where the tongue is completely missing. It is obviously an extremely rare condition and the patients with this abnormality are usually associated with other serious congenital defects in the body.
Microglossia is a congenital anomaly which is characterized by the presence of a small tongue, The patients with microglossia usually have difficulty during taking food or during speech.
Macroglossia is a relatively common condition, in which there is presence of a large tongue in the oral cavity
Etiology of Macro glossia are Muscular hypertrophy, Neoplasms of the tongue, e.g. lymphangioma, hemangioma or neurofibroma, etc. Other causes are Lymphatic obstruction in the tongue due to a malignant tumor, Cretinism and acromegaly, and Amyloidosis in the tongue.
Clinical features of Macroglossia often causes Displacement of the teeth and malocclusion, Indentations of teeth on the lateral border of the tongue.
Ankyloglossia (Tongue-Tie)
Tongue-tie refers to the fixation of the tongue to the floor of the mouth. It may be either complete or partial and occurs mostly due to the presence of a short lingual frenum or in case, where the frenum attaches very near to the tip of the tongue. Speech difficulty is the most common problem in ankyloglossia.
Cleft Tongue (Bitid Tongue)
Cleft tongue is an extremely rare condition, which occurs due to the lack of union between the two lateral lingual swellings at the time of development of the tongue. Partially cleft tongue presents simply a deep groove in the mid line.
In rare cases, the tongue may be having a complete cleft along its long axis. Partially deft tongue is usually a harmless condition but accumulation of food debris and bacteria may sometimes cause irritation in the tongue.
