8. Tongue Removal
Hemiglossectomy is the surgical removal of half the tongue. It’s used as a treatment for oral cancer and done under general anesthesia. The surgery, however, has a more sinister origin. In the 18th and 19th centuries, doctors used to the procedure to treat stuttering. J.F. Dieffenbach, a Prussian surgeon, developed the radical cure. The good surgeon believed that an incision through the root of the tongue stopped the spasm of the vocal cords. Sadly, the treatment didn’t work. Some patients bled to death, and others, now missing half their tongue, stuttered even worse than before the procedure. Electric shock and hypnosis have also been used to treat stuttering.
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