Tongue

Lingua

DigestiveOrgansHead

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What it is

Muscular organ filling the floor of the mouth. Its upper surface (dorsum) is covered with papillae; a V-shaped groove, the sulcus terminalis, separates the oral two-thirds from the lumpy pharyngeal third, with a row of 8-12 large circumvallate papillae just in front of it.

Function

Moves food during chewing, pushes the bolus into the pharynx when swallowing, carries most taste buds and shapes speech sounds.

Size

About 10 cm from tip to root (about 6.5 cm lies in the mouth), about 5 cm wide; roughly 70 g.

Clinical note

All its muscles are supplied by the hypoglossal nerve (XII) except palatoglossus (vagus). A tongue that deviates when protruded points to the side of a hypoglossal nerve lesion.