Microstoma. There are a few cases on record in which the mouth has been so small or ill-defined as not to admit of alimentation. Molliere knew an individual of forty whose mouth was the exact size of a ten-centime piece.

Buchnerus records a case of congenital atresia of the mouth. Cayley, Smith, Sourrouille, and Stankiewiez of Warsaw discuss atresia of the mouth. Cancrum oris, scarlet fever, burns, scurvy, etc., are occasional causes that have been mentioned, the atresia in these instances taking place at any time of life.

Anomalies of the Lips. The aboriginal tribes are particularly noted for their large and thick lips, some of which people consider enormous lips signs of adornment. Elephantiasis or other pathologic hypertrophy of the labial tissues can produce revolting deformity, such as is seen in Figure 100, representing an individual who was exhibited several years ago in Philadelphia. We have in English the expression, "pulling a long lip." Its origin is said to date back to a semimythical hero of King Arthur's time, who, "when sad at heart and melancholic," would let one of his lips drop below his waist, while he turned the other up like a cap on his head.

Blot records a case of monstrous congenital hypertrophy of the superior lip in an infant of eight months. Buck successfully treated by surgical operations a case of congenital hypertrophy of the under lip, and Detmold mentions a similar result in a young lady with hypertrophy of the lip and lower part of the nose. Murray reports an undescribed malformation of the lower lip occurring in one family.

Hare-lip may be unilateral or double, and may or may not include the palatine arch. In the worst cases it extends in fissures on both sides to the orbit. In other cases the minimum degree of this deformity is seen.

Congenital absence of the tongue does not necessarily make speech, taste, or deglutition impossible. Jussieu cites the case of a girl who was born without a tongue but who spoke very distinctly. Berdot describes a case in which the tongue was deficient, without apparent disturbance of any of the functions. Riolan mentions speech after loss of the tongue from small-pox.

Boddington gives an account of Margaret Cutting, who spoke readily and intelligibly, although she had lost her tongue. Saulquin has an observation of a girl without a tongue who spoke, sang, and swallowed normally. Aurran, Bartholinus, Louis, Parsons, Tulpius, and others mention speech without the presence of a tongue.

Philib reports a case in which mutism, almost simulating that of one congenitally deaf, was due to congenital adhesions of the tongue to the floor of the buccal cavity. Speech was established after removal of the abnormal adhesion. Routier speaks of ankylosis of the tongue of seventeen years' duration.

Jurist records such abnormal mobility of the tongue that the patient was able to project the tongue into the nasopharynx. Wherry and Winslow record similar instances.

There have been individuals with bifid tongues, after the normal type of serpents and saurians, and others who possessed a supernumerary tongue. Rev. Henry Wharton, Chaplain to Archbishop Sancroft, in his journal, written in the seventeenth century, says that he was born with two tongues and passed through life so, one, however, gradually atrophying. In the polyclinic of Schnitzer in Vienna in 1892 Hajek observed in a lad of twelve an accessory tongue 2.4 cm. in length and eight mm. in breadth, forming a tumor at the base of the normal tongue. It was removed by scissors, and on histologic examination proved to be a true tongue with the typical tissues and constituents. Borellus, Ephemerides, Eschenbach, Mortimer, Penada, and Schenck speak of double tongues, and Avicenna and Schenck have seen fissured tongues. Dolaeus records an instance of double tongue in a paper entitled "De puella bilingui," and Beaudry and Brothers speak of cleft tongue. Braine records a case in which there was a large hypertrophied fold of membrane coming from each side of the upper lip.

In some cases there is marked augmentation of the volume of the tongue. Fournier has seen a juggler with a tongue so long that he could extrude it six inches from his mouth. He also refers to a woman in Berlin with a long tongue, but it was thinner than that of a cat. When she laughed it hung over her teeth like a curtain, and was always extremely cold to the touch. In the same article there is a description of a man with a very long neck who could touch his tongue to his chest without reclining his head. Congenital and acquired hypertrophy of the tongue will be discussed later.

Amatus Lusitanus and Portal refer to the presence of hair on the tongue, and later there was an account of a medical student who complained of dyspepsia and a sticky sensation in the mouth. On examination a considerable growth of hair was found on the surface of the tongue. The hairs would be detached in vomiting but would grow again, and when he was last seen they were one inch long. Such are possibly nevoid in formation.

The ordinary anomalies of the palate are the fissures, unilateral, bilateral, median, etc.: they are generally associated with hare-lip. The median fissure commencing between the middle incisors is quite rare.

Many curious forms of obturator or artificial palate are employed to remedy congenital defects. Sercombe mentions a case in which destruction of the entire palate was successfully relieved by mechanical means. In some instances among the lower classes these obturators are simple pieces of wood, so fashioned as to fit into the palatine cleft, and not infrequently the obturator has been swallowed, causing obstruction of the air-passages or occluding the esophagus.

Abnormalism of the Uvula. Examples of double uvula are found in the older writers, and Hagendorn speaks of a man who was born without a uvula. The Ephemerides and Salmuth describe uvulae so defective as to be hardly noticeable. Bolster, Delius, Hodges, Mackenzie of Baltimore, Orr, Riedel, Schufeldt, and Tidyman are among observers reporting bifurcated and double uvula, and they are quite common. Ogle records instances of congenital absence of the uvula.

Tags: Disorders and Diseases