What is Macroglossia?
Macroglossia refers to a tongue that appears longer and wider. There are no currently standard measurements to objectively measure this. However, an increased size of a tongue will usually lead it to protrude, making its large size obvious.
An abnormally large tongue is rare and occurs mainly in children. It may impact an affected individual’s ability to speak, eat, and swallow depending on its size.
In some cases, surgery is an option to reduce the size of the tongue.
Understanding mouth-related symptoms and features
Symptoms may affect multiple parts of the body. Understanding which part of the body a symptom affects can help us to better understand the potential underlying causes of a symptom, including a rare disease or genetic syndrome.
The mouth is a part of the GI tract of the digestive system of the body, a system which includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and anus. The digestive system is what makes it possible for the body to eat and digest essential nutrients from food.
Sometimes symptoms affecting the mouth can be seen with the eye. Although diagnosing a mouth-related symptom may involve different tests and assessments, both subjective and objective.
Symptoms relating to the mouth may affect its structure, shape and/ or function. Some features will affect just the appearance of the mouth while others may affect its ability to function properly as a part of the digestive system.
What should I do next?
In some instances, a large tongue may be one of the features of a rare disease or genetic syndrome. To find out if someone with Macroglossia, may be due to a genetic syndrome, it is important to have a consultation and evaluation with a clinical genetic specialist. Specialists may also suggest specific genetic testing or other types of tests to help reach a diagnosis. FDNA’s AI technology can help speed up the diagnostic process by analyzing facial features and other health information.