Clinical Video
Hidden Tongue
Emilio Pintor* and Carmen Martin
Department of Dentistry, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Spain
*Corresponding author: Emilio Pintor Holguin, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Published: 18 Jun, 2018
Cite this article as: Pintor E, Martin C. Hidden Tongue. Ann
Clin Case Rep. 2018; 3: 1522.
Clinical Video
A 30 years old male went to our dental office to an oral review. While intraoral exam, there was
a moment in which his tongue disappeared (Figure 1). After some second, tongue reappeared again.
(Figure 2). Ability of demonstrating tongue movements varies from person to person. Other than
normal lingual movements, a few people are also able to do some special movements such as tongue
rolling, tongue folding, tongue twisting, pointed tongue and clover-leaf tongue. The skill to produce
these movements depends on genetics and also on language.
This patient had lingual normal movement but also he was able to retroflex his tongue as much
as reaching his nasopharynx at retropalatal space (Video 1). This type of voluntary movement is very
rare in general population and we could say this patient is able “to swallow his tongue”.
Figure 1
Figure 1
There was a moment in which his tongue disappeared.
Figure 2
Figure 2
After some second, tongue reappeared again.