Tongue

Description

The tongue is an oval pink moistened solid conical muscular organ located in the cavity of the oral cavity. As shown, it has various structures around it and several accessories. It moves freely on the front side which is never directly connected to any other structure. rear The tongue is attached to many structures, hence why the tongue plays several important roles such as facilitating taste stimuli facilitating chewing the speech pathway as it aids in pronunciation. [1] [2] In the article entitled Tongue Surface Anatomy (Preview)—Human Anatomy and Kenhub’s Tongue Muscle explains an overview of tongue anatomy. To learn more about the muscles of the tongue and the movement of the tongue, this cane is also a useful watch.

Anatomical Relationships

• Anterior and lateral – teeth
• Superior – hard and soft palates
• Inferior – Mouth floor mucosa Sublingual salivary glands Posterior oropharyngeal wall
• Posterior – epiglottis tracheal entrance
• Akyi – palatoglossal ne palatopharyngeal arches[2].

Active mylohyoid muscles elevate body of tongue in high pitch and velar sounds. Hyoglossus retraction is downward (and slightly backward). Styloglossus pulling the tongue up and back. Genioglossus mostly inferior part of the tongue pulls the body of the tongue forward.

Muscles

The tongue consists of 2 main types of muscles which are Intrinsic group and Extrinsic group of muscles

Total 4 types of Intrinsic muscle

• Elevated speech muscle length that causes the tongue to shorten and flex upward.
• A longitudinal lower lingual muscle that shortens and curves the tongue downward.
• The transverse lingual muscle which lengthens and narrows the tongue.
• The vertical lingual musclewhich flattens the tongue

The extrinsic muscles are

• The genioglossus muscle projects into the tongue
• The hyoglossus muscle relaxes and retracts the tongue
• The styloglossus muscles pull up the sides of the tongue to form a swallowing mechanism after normal flexion. The two styloglossus muscles work together on each side to pull the tongue out.
• The muscles of the palatoglossus, which elevate the posterior tongue, close the oropharyngeal isthmus to help initiate swallowing and prevent salivary shedding from the vestibule into the oropharynx by maintaining the palatoglossal arch.

Function

Areas of tongue-Taste function

The tongue plays many roles in swallowing sweet speech in the mouth.

• Function of Taste(Gustation): Taste buds in the tongue play a role in taste perception. The taste buds identify flavors in 5 categories Sweet Sour Salty Bitter and Umami.[3]
• Function of Speech(Phonation): tongue movement against teeth palate and internal palate helps in productions of speech
• Swallowing and digestion(Deglutition): malabsorption of food occurs in the oral tongue presses food against the palate which makes mastication the food bolus and encourages swallowing. [4][3][5] .

Nerve

Motor supply of all Intrinsic and extrinsic nerves id done by cranial nerve XII (Hypoglossal) except one which is the palatoglossus. The palatoglossus is supplied by the Cranial nerve X (Vagus)[1][6].

Sensory supply of tongue

• Taste sensation of anterior two third- chorda tympani (branch of facial nerve) general sensation of the same by lingual nerve(branch of trigeminal nerve) .
• Both the anterior and posterior two-thirds of the senses originate from glosspharangeral roots
• Sensory taste is also partially derived from the epiglottis and epiglottic regions. The laryngeal branch of the vagus nerve is responsible for general taste and sensation. [1] [2] [6] .

Blood Supply

The tongue is supplied primarily by the lingual artery, a branch of the external carotid artery between the superior thyroid artery and the facial artery [4][5]

Clinical relevance

According to the tongue’s main 3 functions, taste function, speech function, swallowing function and food handling function, considering the evaluation of the tongue, all 3 functions must be tested and treated.

Assessment

Tongue assessment plays an important role in tongue rehabilitation [7] and maxillofacial physiotherapy [8]. [9] Tongue Strength [10] [11]

1. Assessment of function of Taste[12]
2. Assessment of function of Speech[13]
3. Assessment of swallowing and food handling function [14]

Treatment

Physical therapy plays an important role in restoring tongue function. Tongue rehabilitation A method of improving various tongue functions: The concept of tongue rehabilitation was introduced by Mrs. Fournier many years ago, this involves correcting the immature resting position of the tongue Swallow and vocalize. These changes may involve adaptive cortical neuroplasticity. In fact, it has been shown in humans in recent years that standardized and calibrated tongue lifting or protruding movements induce such plasticity in the tongue motor cortex. [15] The device can be used for Compress an air-filled bulb between the tongue and hard palate to increase speech intensity. Patients with stroke and other conditions that affect tongue function or cause difficulty swallowing show positive changes after tongue rehabilitation. [16] Several techniques for sticking out the tongue It is also beneficial. Positioning the patient should stick out the tongue as much as possible on the same patient. With the help of dry gaze, the therapist firmly grasps the tongue with both hands and pulls until pain-free. At this time, the intervention period was 4 weeks 5 30 times a day, several days a week. The measurement site is from the center of the upper lip to the tip of the tongue protruding from the lip when measuring the tongue[15]