Sir, your correspondents S. Surendran, E. Thomas and S. Asokan describe a hypermobile tongue in a young patient (BDJ 2012; 212: 55–56).

In a paper that I wrote 42 years ago in your esteemed journal, I described the same phenomenon which I had thought at the time was rare and remarkable (Becker A. Acquired extraordinary movements of a normal tongue. Br Dent J 1970; 128: 396–397). The article generated some lively responses to the editor and a similar case was presented in a lecture given by Prof. William Proffit of the University of North Carolina, USA, in Jerusalem two years ago.

1. Jerusalem