Loading...
Tongue biting has classically been thought to signal an epileptic seizure. This study examined the strength of this association.
Researchers examined 63 patients admitted to an epilepsy monitoring unit with bilateral motor phenomena (stiffening or shaking) or loss of consciousness, and 45 controls with well-documented syncope. Of the 63 study patients, 34 had generalized tonic-clonic (GTC) epileptic seizures, and the remaining 29 had nonepileptic episodes.
Eight of the 34 patients with epileptic seizures had tongue injuries, all located laterally, versus none of the 29 with nonepileptic pseudoseizures. Of the 45 syncopal controls, only one had evidence of biting (at the tip of the tongue). Thus, the specificity of lateral tongue biting was 10…