Effect of surgical reduction of the tongue on oral stereognosis, oral motor ability, and the rest position of the tongue and mandible.

The oral ability to recognize forms and oral motor ability were studied by means of two specific tests in 27 subjects, 10 to 23 years of age, before and after tongue reduction because of macroglossia. Recordings were made before and 6 and 12 months after the operation. At the same time the natural position of the head and of the cervical column, the craniocervical relation, the position of the tongue and the hyoid bone, and the rest position of the mandible were studied with profile roentgen-cephalometry. The surgical reduction of the tongue had a minor influence on the subject's performance in the test of oral ability to recognize forms, where the number of false identifications increased somewhat. The oral motor ability and the positions of the head, the cervical column, and the hyoid bone were unaffected. After the operation, the tongue did not fill out the oral cavity as much as before and the freeway space decreased.