HOUSTON – Doctors at UT Health School of Dentistry are hopeful an endowment will help them better understand a rare disorder affecting African American patients. The Katy mother of five is helping a group of oral surgeons at UTHealth better look at her DNA to figure out why her tongue enlarged back in 2017. AdA Florida man traveled to the Texas Medical Center last year for surgery after his tongue enlarged while being intubated in a hospital for COVID-19. “Second was long-term intubations.”Melville said of the five patients he has seen with the rare disorder, all of them were Black. Melville said he’s in the process of contacting former Macroglossia patients to have their blood drawn for the lab analysis.

HOUSTON – A Houston doctor helped restore a Florida man’s quality of life after he suffered from a rare condition while being treated for COVID-19. Macroglossia, a medical term for an enlarged tongue, it is extremely rare and uncomfortable. Jones, who lives in Lake City, Florida, was hospitalized for three weeks because of the coronavirus. During that time, his tongue became enlarged, making it hard to talk or eat. Jones can now talk and eat again, though the pressure of the enlarged tongue forced him to remove four bottom teeth.