Congenital aglossia is a rare tongue anomaly. There were 16 cases reported in Japan of which only one was an adult case.
Recently we experienced a congenital aglossia case. The patient, a 20-year-old female, is the youngest of two children of unrelated parents, aged 32 (father) and 28 (mother). The patient's mother had a drugless normal pregnancy and normal delivery. The patient had sucking difficulty, but no treatment such as nasal feeding.
Intraorally, a small extruded mass was recognized from the floor of the mouth. Both of the maxillary and the mandibular arches were very narrow, and three incisors of the mandible were congenitally missing. Radiographically, the existance of hyoid bone, submandibular, salivary gland and suprahyoid muscles were suggested by computed radiography and computed tornography. However, the patient had almost normal taste and clear pronunciation.
