Date: Mon Aug 29 10:16:38 2005
Posted By: Thomas M. Greiner, Assistant Professor of Anatomy
Area of science: Anatomy
ID: 1117653070.An
Message:
What do the tongue muscles do?
The tongue is made up almost entirely of muscles. These muscles are
conventionally grouped as the intrinsic (inside the tongue) and extrinsic
(attaching the tongue to something else) muscle.
The extrinsic muscles are the ones you usually look for in dissection.
There are four extrinsic muscles:
- Genioglossus: Goes from the inside of the chin to the tongue. This
muscle moves the tongue down and out.
- Hyoglossus: Goes from the hyoid bone to the tongue. This muscle
moves the tongue down and in.
- Styloglossus: Goes from the styloid process of the temporal bone to
the tongue. This muscle moves the tongue up and in.
- Palatoglossus: Goes from the soft palate to the tongue. This muscle
moves the tongue up.
The intrinsic muscles are a little harder to identify in dissection, and
don’t have fancy names like the extrinsic muscle. Generally these muscles
are named for their locations and fiber directions. Thus there are the
Superior Longitudinal, Inferior Longitudinal and Transverse intrinsic
tongue muscles. These muscles are generally associated with changing the
shape of the tongue. They tend to work in combinations, so it’s difficult
to associate one muscle with one shape change. However, the longitudinal
muscles tend to shorten the tongue, while the transverse muscle elongates
and flattens it.
All of these muscles have important functions in eating and speaking.
Changing the shape and position of the tongue moves food around the mouth
so that it gets evenly chewed by the teeth and then moves the food to the
back of the mouth as part of the first stages of swallowing. Changes to
the shape and position of the tongue are also important in shaping the
air flow through the mouth that gives precision to the sounds we make
during speech.
Reference:
Standring, S (2005) Gray’s Anatomy. Elsevier: Edinburgh. pp. 584-587
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