Evaluation of the Prevalence of Developmental Anomalies of the Tongue in Special Educational Centers of Yazd City

Statement of Problem: Developmental anomalies of the tongue frequently occur in patients with other congenital or developmental defects. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of developmental anomalies of the tongue among handicapped students of Yazd city. In this cross-sectional study, 400 handicapped children were randomly selected among the special educational centers. Their age range was 6 to 13 years old (220 females, 180 males), among them, 280 cases were mental retarded and 120 cases were physically handicapped. All children were examined and any developmental anomalies of the tongue were recorded. Analysis of data was done by t and Chi-Square tests and analysis of variance. In this study, the prevalence of tongue anomalies was found to be 6.8%. Results showed that 3.7% of cases had fissured tongue, 2% cleft tongue, 0.5% macroglossia, 0.3% microglossia, 0.3% ankyloglossia and no cases of aglossia and bifid tongue were observed. There was no significant difference in prevalence rates of the developmental anomalies in relation to sex, age, IQ and type of retardation. As fissured tongue showed to be the most common anomaly in these students, a follow-up examination is recommended for prevention of unwanted changes.