AGLOSSIA CONGENITA

Abstract

Congenital absence of the tongue is extremely rare; only a few cases have been reported in living children. Usually the tongue has been found to be absent in cases of gross underdevelopment or maldevelopment of the first visceral arches, especially in cases of congenital agnathia or micrognathia.¹ To understand the etiology one has to know some facts about the development of the tongue. The tongue has its origin in the pharynx and grows forward into the floor of the mouth. It begins with a swelling on the floor of the pharynx between the first and second visceral arches, the tuberculum impar, which is present before the embryonal age of 4 weeks. The part formed from it is only a small part of the tongue, that just in front of the foramen caecum. The anterior portion develops from the so-called lateral tongue swellings of the first or mandibular arch, from