Tongue (Lingua)
Educational content only — not medical advice.
Anatomy
A sensory-motor organ divided by the sulcus terminalis into oral and pharyngeal parts, with intrinsic (longitudinal, transverse, vertical) and extrinsic muscles anchoring hyoid, mandible and styloid; all motor supply is hypoglossal (XII) except palatoglossus (vagus X via pharyngeal plexus). Taste: facial nerve (anterior two-thirds), glossopharyngeal (posterior third), vagus (vallecula).
Clinical notes
Unilateral hypoglossal palsy deviates the tongue toward the lesion on protrusion; true posterior-third carcinoma spreads silently because pain arrives late via IX, and black hairy tongue follows broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Related structures
Educational references
FAQ
What is the role of the Tongue?
A sensory-motor organ divided by the sulcus terminalis into oral and pharyngeal parts, with intrinsic (longitudinal, transverse, vertical) and extrinsic muscles anchoring hyoid, mandible and styloid; all motor supply is hypoglossal (XII) except palatoglossus (vagus X via pharyngeal plexus). Taste: facial nerve (anterior two-thirds), glossopharyngeal (posterior third), vagus (vallecula).
Why is the Tongue clinically important?
Unilateral hypoglossal palsy deviates the tongue toward the lesion on protrusion; true posterior-third carcinoma spreads silently because pain arrives late via IX, and black hairy tongue follows broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Source & license
BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science licensed under CC Attribution 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). license details