We often see or hear about mouth swallowing cases, especially in soccer matches. The first thing that comes to our mind is that this person has swallowed a tongue. The tongue enters the bronchial area, preventing air from reaching the lungs, suffocation of the injured person, – God forbid – if a specialized medical team does not intervene to pull the tongue out of the respiratory canal. This common concept of swallowing tongue is a misconception; it is the result of people’s understanding of the term just to hear it, which makes some of the non-specialized trying to get their hands in the mouth of the injured tongue to withdraw from the respiratory tract, which may have bad effects on the therapist and the injured, where The spasticity of the saliva will impede this process; the convulsions associated with this condition will make it very difficult and painful to the therapist, and may lead to a broken jaw of the injured. The muscle of the tongue is like any muscle in the human body; it is affected by the trauma and injuries suffered by the human body. When a person enters a coma, all his muscles relax; including the muscle of the tongue. This is the same with the person in deep sleep; He wakes up feeling choking if he is asleep on his back, since in this case he has experienced swallowing the tongue.
When the muscle of the tongue relaxes, the lower part of the tongue at the base of the tongue relaxes, leading to its descent at the area of the respiratory canal, leading to the obstruction of the duct, which prevents air From access to the lungs, suffocation occurs. It is not the entire tongue entering the respiratory tract, but the base of the tongue is blocking the airway. In this case, the doctor should lift the head of the injured person by holding his forehead and pushing the chin back, making the shape of the head and neck like the letter V in English but inverted, and then tilts the injured person to one side and preferably to the right side, Even allowing the saliva to come out of his mouth; it does not lead to a choking if it came down in his stomach. This method can open the airway by lifting the base of the tongue to the top after lifting the chin; allowing the air to enter the lungs and end the suffocation, and should be done at the beginning of the matter, delay in giving first aid to the injured will lead to a lack of oxygen Organs of the body and especially the brain; which may cause, God forbid, undesirable consequences.
One of the most common causes of tongue swallowing is the severe and severe blows to the head area, which leads to the entry of a person in coma, or muscle spasms lead to swallowing the tongue. Decreased blood sugar and lack of blood circulation are also two reasons that may lead to this condition, in addition to the presence of disorders in the concentration of some minerals within the human body, such as sodium and potassium, leading to muscle relaxation and result in swallowing tongue.