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My tongue has a mind of its own

Posted 10 May, 2007 at 1:15am by Michael Chu
(Filed under: Life)

Returning to the dentist today for my cavity work, I discovered that my tongue does not behave the way I expect it to. I moves on its own and even when I tell it to go somewhere (for example, to one side of the mouth) it may or may not. The weirdest part about it is that I have NO idea where my tongue is at any given moment. Sure, I can tell it's in the center of my mouth and touching the inside of all my teeth right now, but if my mouth was wide open (as it was on the dentist's chair) and my tongue was NOT supposed to touch anything, then when I tell the tongue to go to the right (away from the drills and instruments), I believe that it goes to the right. However, it also lifts up on the left side and into the way of the tools. I had no idea that it was doing this. Apparently I have defective proprioception (the sense of where your body parts are relative to the other body parts) when it comes to my tongue. It wasn't until I was handed a mirror that I could see what my tongue was doing and then adjust. Only then would my tongue listen to me.

3 comments to My tongue has a mind of its own

Paul, August 18th, 2007 at 10:37 pm:

  • wow i have the same thing, thought i was mad lol

Anonymous, July 21st, 2012 at 8:36 pm:

  • Think about it when you're brushing your teeth and you'll realise your tongue following the toothbrush lol!

Grace, May 20th, 2013 at 6:35 pm:

  • I had my sister in stitches…(I truthfully think she wet her pants, but she was't admitting to it) when I told her a similar story about "MY TONGUE". I thought I was losing my mind….I even spoke to
    my periodontist about this situation with my unruly tongue…..and
    she said she's heard it all before…….We had a few chuckles about it.
    Thanks for the comment….and the opportunity to laugh and feel like I am part of the mainstream…and not some LOON whose tongue is
    out of control.!

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