Regional Veterinary Surgery

CONGENITAL DEFECTS 

• Smooth tongue
  • The horny papillae on the dorsum of the tongue will be either small or absent. Affected calves with smooth tongue will have difficulty in prehension. This leads to retarted growth.
  • Treatment is not indicated. Condition is more common in Brown Swiss and Holstien Fresien
• Lateral deviation of the tongue
  • If the lower canine teeth in dogs are missing the tongue may protrude laterally.
  • It may be congenital or traumatic. Treatment is by excising the superficial muscle near the frenum linguae on the contralateral side.
• Ankyloglossia 
• There will be incomplete or abnormal development of the tongue.
• Treatment is by incising the overlong frenum lingue to provide a free range of motion of the tongue.