Surgical Correction of Macroglossia
Raymond Massengill D.Ed.1 and
Kenneth Pickrell M.D.2
1 East Tennessee State University, School of Medicine, Bristol Memorial Hospital, Bristol, Tennessee
2 Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710
Surgical procedures for the correction of macroglossia have been performed as early as 1658,1 even before the introduction of general anesthetic agents. However, there are few articles and studies that refer to speech and orthodontic aspects following elective resection of the tongue in macroglossia. It has been pointed out that surgical interventions on the tongue are but rarely necessary, and then for other than phonetic reasons, indicated perhaps in the course of orthodontic treatment. Correction of macroglossia for dental reasons has actually improved the enunciation of previously disturbed linguo-dental sounds in a few personally observed patients.2
The importance of the tongue in the development of normal occlusion was stressed by Swmehart3 in 1950 and the "general posture and habit of lingual movement have been shown by Wright and colleagues4 to determine the stability and comfort with which artificial dentures are worn."5
