stupid question

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Okay you guys, don't laugh . . but is it possible to see the epiglottis by looking at someone's throat with a flashlight? I'm obviously not a nurse yet or I would know this. :lol2: I am taking anatomy and asked my 6 year old to let me look at her mouth to see if I can tell where the palatine bones are in a real person, and I saw her tonsils and then posterior to the tongue was this thing-- looked like a second tongue but smaller and sticking up, and I was like, what the heck is that? I checked my textbook and googled some images of the mouth and the only thing I can think of is that it's the epiglottis. I wasn't able to see it in my own mouth, but she was laying back and I was able to see in deeper.

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Specializes in Nursing Home ,Dementia Care,Neurology..

Yes,quite possible,as long as they can open their mouth and press down their tongue you can see it quite clearly.

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Thanks! :) I didn't know you could see it just by looking in the mouth, so that really surprised me. Wow. You learn something new every day. :lol2:

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Specializes in Nursing Home ,Dementia Care,Neurology..

Whoa........serious senior moment here,I think what you saw is the Uvula ,a sort of dangling bit at the back of the throat.Epiglottis is further down the throat and while you can see it if you are intubating maybe not just with a torch. (sorry about that........I'll just blame my age!!!)

check out this link and see if it was the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatine_uvula

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Whoa........serious senior moment here,I think what you saw is the Uvula ,a sort of dangling bit at the back of the throat.Epiglottis is further down the throat and while you can see it if you are intubating maybe not just with a torch. (sorry about that........I'll just blame my age!!!)

check out this link and see if it was the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatine_uvula

No, it was inferior to the uvula, and not the uvula. How weird. She's going to the ped next week for a checkup and I"ll ask him. I just have to know now. lol!

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i've only seen it through a laryngoscope.

i honestly don't know if it can be viewed w/the naked eye.

leslie

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Thanks anyway. I'll let you know what the ped says-- maybe it's an alien hiding out back there. lol!

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It could have been the epiglottis. In anesthesia school you could see the tip of one of my classmate's epiglottis when she opened wide. This is definitely not the norm, though!

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

ABSOLUTELY you can see the epiglottis! Does it appear to lay right above the posterior part of the tongue and is it a U-shape with the fleshy part about 1/8- 1/4 inch thinck? If so, yup, that is an epigottis! I work as a peds nurse practitioner and probably see at leat one epiglottis a day (especially in the young school-ager). It is very common- in pediatrics anyway. And pretty cool if you have never seen it before! I often get parents bringing in their child for a sick visit who are worried about "this wierd thing in the back of their mouth that won't go away."

Not as easy to see on adults. So that is probaby why so much of the above confusion about if it is normal or not. DEFINATELY a normal finding in a peds pt, so long as it is normal in structure and size. Kids do such a great job of sticking out that tongue!

It also means your kid would be pretty easy to intubate (which hopefully will never happen)

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Wow thanks again! So it IS the epiglottis? Wow how cool is that? So my kid has talent? ;-) I was looking at my anatomy book and that's the only thing I could see that seemed to be the right shape and location.

I was told by some on-line friends that they had this too, or their kids did, and it was normal. But no one could remember what it was called. I appreciate you confirming that it's an epiglottis. I guess I'll remember that when I am looking at throats as a nurse in the future.

Here's a video (it's my 3yo, not 6yo-- that was a typo). She was so nice to say ahh for the camera even though she didn't want to. You can see the epiglottis near the end of the video waving at you.

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i22/usamma/?action=view&current=PICT2396.flv

I was looking at my own palatte and I have a torus palatinus. I wanted to look at my daughter to see a normal palate and saw the epiglottis. I guess we just all have wierd mouths in my family. :lol2: And hopefully I'll do well on my practical!!

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wow, chai...

i saw it!

i saw it!

i saw it!

thank you!:balloons:

leslie

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Specializes in Behavioral Medicine.

Wow thank you for posting that video. I can honestly say I have never seen that before. Thank you to your daughter for being a sport ;)

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