Glossitis and oedema of the larynx may require the surgical procedures often necessary when they occur under other circumstances.
Other forms of toxic stomatitis hardly require special elucidation.
Abnormalities and Vices of Conformation of the Tongue.
Apart from the anomalies presented in monsters, there are a few congenital abnormalities of the tongue with which it becomes the accoucheur at least to be familiar, as their presence may interfere materially with the nutrition of the infant, whether nursed or spoon-fed.
CONGENITAL DEFICIENCY OF THE TONGUE.—A considerable portion of the tongue may be wanting anteriorly, comprising, in some instances, the entire free portion of the organ. The stump then presents as a single or a bifid protuberance of variable size. In some instances considerable power of movement exists, and even conservation of taste. Suction and deglutition are both practicable. When the child grows it can speak, though with a certain amount of difficulty. A few cases are on record, however, of ability to speak without any evidence of a tongue above the floor of the mouth.
An instance of lateral deficiency has been observed by Chollet,16 the deficient half being represented merely by the two layers of the lingual mucous membrane, without any intervening muscular substance.
16 Demarquay, Dict. de Méd. et de Chir. prat., xx. p. 130.
BIFID TONGUE, separate investment of the two sides, has been occasionally observed in connection with similar arrest of development in the lower jaw and other organs.
Ankyloglossia.
DEFINITION.—An abnormal attachment or adhesion of some portion of the tongue to some portion of the surrounding structures of the mouth.