Okay, you see my tongue is (how do I put this) it’s connected to the front of my gums so that it cant be stuck out at all, and is basically a part of my mouth so that I cant lift it up in anyway or anything. Whenever I go to a doctor or anything, (I have throat problems occasionally) and they do the whole stick out your tongue thing, I freak them out, it’s a big" Shouldn’t that have been cut off when you were born ?" Thing and I get some pretty weird faces from it. As a child I thought it was cool and I used to tell the whole family story, my dad had the same problem as well as an extra earlobe* and apparently I inherited it.
Any dopers have the same problem; I heard it’s kind of common
It was just some extra flash on the back of his ear, that pretty much resembled and extra earlobe, I have a small bump on the back of my ear that they thought would grow into one, but it didn’t.
I can’t see how you can speak clearly without a mobile tongue or how you could eat properly with your tongue welded to your gums. Can’t surgery release your tongue? I can’t picture how you could go through life with this if surgery could release your tongue.
Okay, I knew I would explain this badly. Your tongue isnt attached to the bottom of your mouth until a little ways back, mne is attached to the bottom of my mouth all the way to the tip of my tongue, it can move side to side, but not very much up or down. When I was born they said, if it turns out that problems arise, we’l cut it off, if not, the it will stay
My dad has a similar issue with his tongue. His tongue appears to be connected to the bottom of his mouth with a small strip of flesh. According to Dad (who is the King of fanciful stories), if this strip were cut, his tongue would flop around and he wouldn’t be able to talk, since he learned to talk with his tongue “tied.”
flowerchild, you are not deformed, you are simply different from the norm. I think if your tongue were cut loose you would speak just as well. best wishes. Jon.
Kinda off-topic, but I was at the playground with my kids the other day and there was a boy there, perhaps six or seven years old, that had extra bits on his ears; the odd thing is that they consisted of pointed ‘bumps’ on the top of his ears, giving them a geuininely elfin (although not quite Spock-like) appearance; I suppose many people would see this as a deformity that should have been excised; personally, I thought it looked rather nice - it’s largely in the eye of the beholder.
Is anyone else reading this trying to speak without moving their tongue?
If you think about it, our tongues are rather flappy in our mouths when we talk. Flowerchild, I bet if your tongue were “cut loose”, you’d be thinking “how do you people speak with those things flopping around everywhere?” You probably would sound different with your tongue surgically altered (i don’t want to say “fix”, because that implies there’s an existing problem that needs “fixing” when clearly you’re doing damn well with the tongue you have). You would probably have to relearn speaking because your tongue would probably get in the way.
When I was born my tougue was just like this -attached to the bottom of my mouth. My mom noticed it when I couldnt suck properly, took me to the dr., and he snipped it free with a pair of scissors. Mom says it bled a hella lot, but I didnt even cry. Been fine ever since. So howcum no one ever snipped yours free?
I had the same thing. Had it cut when I was 18. It didn’t change the way I speak in the slightest, so I don’t think there should be anything to worry about, really. The only thing is that now when I lift up my tongue, there’s a little red nub where the tongue meets the bottom of the mouth. It doesn’t hurt and I never feel it. Actually, prior to reading this thread, I’d forgotten all about even having been like this.
IANAD, of course, but speaking from my experience getting it cut is really no big deal. If you consult your physician, I’m sure he’ll tell you the same thing. If it’s bothering you, just go ahead and have that sucker cut.
I went to school with a girl who had what I imagine is a milder version of this…
OK, look in the mirror and raise your tongue to the roof of your mouth. See that little ‘webbed’ piece of flesh that holds your tongue to the bottom of your mouth? Hers was longer than normal. She couldn’t raise her tongue to touch the roof of her mouth. She was off for a week or so cause she had an operation to have it snipped.
It’s common enough - I’ve heard of it being called “tongue-tied”. Always heard of in the context of being a potential cause of breastfeeding issues, though. Yep, the treatment is to basically just snip it, without anesthesia or anything.
You’ve obviously survived to adulthood w/o doing anything about it. I’d say, use it for entertainment at parties
I’ve read that tongue surgery is becoming popular in Japan. The idea there is that a more mobile tongue will make it easier to articulate the English L and R sounds.
Wow! I thought I was the only one with this freakish thing! I’ve heard the term for the webbing that keeps your tongue stuck is called a “Frenulum” but I don’t know if that’s it or not.
Anyways, what kind of doctor will perform these operations? How much does it cost?
This is kind of wierd, but I think I had this when I was born. I seem to remember my mom mentioning it, and that it was corrected right away, but it’s one of those early memories that’s very vague. If I feel the membrane that connects my tongue to the bottom of my mouth, there’s a little nodule right at the bottom. I suppose this could be the scar.
okay, to adress a question.
why wasnt it cut off at birth? or any other time? From what i can piece together, neither my mom or my doctor believed it would be a problem. They told her, if she has problems eating, sucking, speaking, etc. We’ll cut it, if not she’ll be fine. My dad went 54 yeas not moving his tongue when he spoke, and I dont have any speech problems, or eating problems, and i dont mind it,it doesnt bother me in any way, sso it stays.
