Causes: Nervous lesions—central or peripheral, parasitic,
inflammatory, infectious, traumatic or degenerative. Symptoms:
unilateral and bilateral. Treatment: remove cause; use nerve
stimulants, embrocations, blisters, frictions, galvanism, suspension
of tongue.
Paralysis of the tongue depends on a lesion of the medulla oblongata, or
of the 7th or 12th cranial nerve. The central lesions may be connected
with cœnurus or other parasites in the brain, hydrocephalus, meningitis,
cerebro spinal meningitis, infectious pneumonia, abscess (strangles),
and tumors. The distal or nerve lesions may be due to neuroma, tumors,
traumas, lacerations, bruises, or violent distension of the tongue.
Parotitis, abscess of the guttural pouch and tubercle may be added as
occasional causes. As direct traumatic injuries those caused by wearing
a poke by a habitual fence-breaker, excessive dragging on the tongue in
operations on the mouth, and compression of the tongue by a loop of rope
passed over it, require mention.
_Symptoms._ In =unilateral= paralysis the affected half of the tongue
remains soft and flaccid and is liable to be crushed between the teeth,
the active muscles of the opposite half pushing the organ over to the
paralyzed side. In =bilateral= paralysis the tongue hangs out of the
mouth, and being crushed and torn by the teeth, it swells up, and may
even become gangrenous.
_Treatment._ Will vary according to the cause. After removal of the
central or nervous lesions, the remaining functional paralysis may be
treated by strychnia, internally or hypodermically, by frictions or
stimulating embrocations to the intermaxillary region, or by
electricity. The tongue must be suspended in a sling to prevent œdema,
inflammation and wounds by the teeth. In bad cases of bilateral
traumatic glossoplegia in meat producing animals it has been advised to
have the subject butchered.