User:Erputman/sandbox

Definition
Cleft tongue (also known as bifid tongue) is a condition in which there is a lateral split on an individual's tongue. The issues seen in patients with cleft tongue is an inability to eat correctly and some speech impairment. In infants, it would cause a lot of trouble with nursing or taking bottles, but luckily medical advances make it possible to be corrected.

Development
The tongue develops at week four of fetal development and can have many malformations at this time. Many times a cleft palate or lip can be seen on ultrasound but rarely is a cleft tongue diagnosed before birth. A physical examination of a newborn would prove the diagnosis and would be encouraged to be surgically corrected by three months.

Surgery
The surgery would include reconstruction by suturing the muscles in layers which would help to close the gap on the tongue and would help the patient have better speech and eating habits. The disease is not life threatening and can be lived with. In a case study, a man was found to have been living with a bifid tongue for almost 45 years. His parent’s did not do anything about it when he was a child because they believed that it was a sign of good fortune. As followers of Hindu, the family related the appearance of his tongue to that of a snake and considered it a “god given” gift.