Tongue laceration

Background

• Secondary to tongue biting
• Serious injuries can cause hemorrhage and potential airway compromise

Clinical Features

• Examine for other injuries, missing teeth, embedded foreign bodies

Differential Diagnosis

Tongue diagnoses

• Tongue laceration
• Strawberry tongue
• Black hairy tongue
• Oropharyngeal candidiasis (oral thrush)
• Hairy Oral Leukoplakia
• Tongue swelling
  • Trauma
  • Angioedema
    • Hereditary
    • Allergic (ACE)
    • Idiopathic

Management

• Do not need primary repair unless >1 cm in length, widely gaping, involving tip / anterior split tongue, or large hemorrhage
  • Use absorbable sutures, chromic gut or vicryl but not fast absorbing
  • Tie 4-5 knots but approximate loosely to allow for swelling
  • Anesthesia of the anterior 2/3 of the tongue is obtained through an inferior alveolar block
  • Chlorhexidine mouth wash to prevent infection

See Also

• Tongue Diagnoses
• Lacerations