What Is a Glossectomy?

Written by Marijke Vroomen Durning, RN
Medically Reviewed by Elmer Huerta, MD, MPH on July 03, 2025
8 min read

A glossectomy is a type of surgery to remove problems from your tongue. The surgery takes out part or all of your tongue. It often treats tongue cancer, but it can also help with tongue pain, bleeding, or blocked airways.

Your tongue helps you taste, swallow, and talk. A glossectomy can impact how you eat, speak, or breathe. A tongue repair (reconstructive surgery) can help.

Your tongue repair may use tissue from another place on your body. Learn more about how a glossectomy changes your speech and swallowing.

Tongue cancer is a type of head and neck cancer. A glossectomy can remove the cancer from your tongue.

The surgery can treat:

There are partial, hemi, and total glossectomies. "Glossectomy is a term that is kind of like a catchall," says Ansley Roche, MD, an assistant professor of otolaryngology surgery at Yale School of Medicine. Your surgery and repair depend on how much tongue is removed. 

Partial glossectomy

The surgery takes out less than half your tongue. It commonly treats early-stage tongue cancer. Your surgeon removes your tumor and some of the tissue around it – called the cuff. This helps remove any nearby cancer cells. 

Hemiglossectomy

A hemiglossectomy removes half (one side) of your tongue. The other half of your tongue is left. You'll likely get a tongue repair, too.

Subtotal glossectomy

A subtotal glossectomy can treat larger tumors. Most of your tongue is removed, but not all. Then, your surgeon can repair your tongue.

Total glossectomy

A total glossectomy removes your whole tongue. The surgery can also take out the base of your tongue.

Midline glossectomy

A midline glossectomy can make your tongue smaller. It can treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) caused by a larger (enlarged) tongue. If you have OSA, your tongue can fall backward while you sleep and block your airway. 

Your surgeon removes your tonsils (tonsillectomy). And they take out some middle and back parts of your tongue.

Other procedures for glossectomy

After your tongue surgery, it can be hard to swallow or breathe. "Patients aren't bed bound, connected to a ventilator," says Roche. "They're up and walking around with it. But what we worry about is swelling in the mouth." The swelling can cause problems.

Laryngectomy. With a total glossectomy, you'll often get a laryngectomy. The surgery removes your voice box.

Tracheostomy. During your tongue repair, you may get a tracheostomy. It's a breathing tube placed in the base of your throat.

After surgery, swelling can cause breathing  problems. "So a lot of these patients get a tracheostomy for prevention," says Roche. "It provides a safe airway as they're recovering in the hospital. Ideally, that comes out before they leave."

Before surgery, you'll meet with a speech and swallowing therapist. "We call it prehab or prehabilitation," Roche says. 

On your surgery day, you'll get general anesthesia (through an IV). You'll be asleep and won’t feel anything. 

Partial glossectomy

Your surgeon can remove some tumors from your mouth. But some tumors are harder to reach. You may get a small cut (incision) in your neck or jaw.

Hemiglossectomy

Your surgeon removes half your tongue. They may also do a tracheostomy. The tube helps you breathe after surgery.

Total glossectomy

This surgery removes your tongue completely. You may also get a laryngectomy. Removing your voice box helps you swallow liquids.

Tongue repair

Your surgeon may do a tongue repair. You may get a:

  • Split thickness skin graft (STSG) with top and deeper skin layers. It’s often from your arm, belly, or back.
  • Local flap graft, which repairs medium-sized tongue problems. It can rotate neck tissue to your tongue.
  • Free flap graft, which repairs larger parts of your tongue. It uses a thick skin flap from your arm or thigh.

After the tongue repair, your surgeon will stitch up your tongue. The stitches dissolve as your tongue heals.

After your surgery, you may be able to go home or get in-home care. With larger repairs, you may need rehabilitation. Your doctor may prescribe medicine for any pain. Some pain medications cause constipation. Ask your doctor about stool softeners. 

Here are some ways to help you recover.

Oral care prevents infection

Your stitches dissolve as your tongue heals. But food can get trapped. "Food can be a source of infection, and infection can kill the reconstruction," says Roche. 

Your surgeon can prescribe a special mouthwash. Clean and rinse your mouth after eating to prevent infection.

Skin graft care for recovery

Your graft may have a special gauze (bolster) sewn over it. The bolster lightly squeezes your tongue to help it heal. But a local or free flap graft may have a drain to help with swelling. Your surgeon removes these at an office visit after the surgery (also called a post-op visit).

Keep your donor bandage dry. Your surgeon takes out any staples before you leave the hospital or at your post-op visit.

Diet and feeding tube

You'll probably have a feeding tube during recovery. The long tube goes in your nose and into your stomach. This keeps you nourished for the first week or so. But you may go home with it. Your care team can show you how to clean and care for it. 

"When patients are recovering, the speech and swallow team sees them before we even start giving them any nutrition at all by mouth," says Roche. Your speech therapist can teach you to eat and swallow. Once you can eat and swallow, they'll remove the tube.

Speech therapy

If more of your tongue is removed, you may need speech therapy. Your therapist can help you learn to talk again.

Activity limits

Your surgeon may limit your activity for two to four weeks. You might not be able to lift any object over 25 pounds for two weeks. After your doctor says it's OK, you can slowly start doing things again.

As with any surgery, a glossectomy can come with risks. Your risk of problems goes up with more tongue removed. 

With a glossectomy, you may get:

  • Bleeding or a blood clot not going away (hematoma)
  • Infection
  • Problems speaking (dysarthria) or not being able to speak
  • Trouble swallowing (dysphagia)
  • Food or liquid entering your lungs (aspiration)
  • A fistula (opening), causing saliva to go from your mouth into your neck
  • Airway blockage or swelling
  • Healing problems, like numbness or a skin flap that doesn't heal
  • Weight loss from a change in taste or loss of tongue senses
  • Pneumonia

When to call your doctor

Some symptoms can signal a problem that needs medical care. Call your doctor if you get:

  • Serious pain in your tongue, mouth, face, or donor site
  • A high temperature (fever) over 100.5 F
  • Signs of infection, like pus draining from your cut, bad breath, or bad tastes
  • Color changes in your tongue

Call your doctor or go to your local emergency room right away if you have problems breathing.

Everyone recovers at their own pace. Your other health conditions and how much tongue is removed matter. It can take several months for your mouth to heal.

Glossectomy recovery

Some partial surgeries are done outpatient – you go home the same day. But larger tongue repairs may require two to three days in the hospital. And with a total glossectomy, you may have a hospital stay for seven to 10 days. 

Tongue repair recovery

With STSG grafts, your tongue grows new blood vessels after seven days. Your surgeon can remove the tongue bolster after a week. 

But with local or free flap grafts, you'll spend seven to 10 days in the hospital. Once you're home, it can take several weeks before you feel better. And it can take months to fully recover.

Your donor site can take one to two weeks to heal. Keep your pink, dry skin under the bandage moist until it heals completely.

Your speech can change after parts of your tongue are gone. You can get thick saliva and dry mouth. It can be harder to fully open your mouth, too. A speech therapist can help. 

Your tongue helps you make vowel and certain consonant sounds (t, d, k, g, l, n, and r). These sounds may not be as clear after surgery. Lip sounds (b, m, p and w) are easier. It may be harder to talk and for other people to understand you. 

Your speech therapist can assess you. They’ll suggest exercises to help your voice muscles get stronger. They can help you communicate in other ways, too. You can use computers, pen and paper, or gestures. Some people learn sign language, too.

Your glossectomy can impact how you swallow and eat. Your tongue controls the food and liquid in your mouth. It pushes it back in your mouth to swallow.

Your speech therapist gives you exercises. They’ll teach you to chew and swallow. You may get a tube (such as a Chewy Tube) to practice chewing. Or you may get a device shaped like a spoon called an Ora-Light. It can help your lips and tongue get stronger.

If you've lost weight, your dietitian can give you a short-term high-calorie supplement. 

Your care team can help you learn:

  • Which foods to eat, like soft, moist foods, or how to make your food thicker or thinner
  • How much to eat (larger or smaller amounts) to help you chew
  • How to fix your meals
  • How to stop drooling
  • To stop food getting trapped on one side of your mouth
  • To not bite your cheek
  • How to chew slowly, take time to eat, and swallow
  • How to hold your head and neck as you swallow
  • Different ways to swallow

Tell your dietitian if your taste changes or goes away. It can impact your desire to eat. With treatment, your sense of taste usually gets better. Your care team can help you learn mindful eating habits. These habits can help you enjoy food again.

A glossectomy removes part or all of your tongue to treat cancer, a blocked airway, and more. The surgery can impact how you swallow or talk. But tongue repair, a speech therapist, and dietitian can help. Talk with your care team to plan for your glossectomy recovery.

Is a glossectomy a major surgery?

A glossectomy is a major (bigger) surgery. It can impact how you eat, breathe, and swallow. 

Can you talk after a glossectomy?

You can talk after a glossectomy. But how well can depend on how much tongue is removed. And if you had surgery on your voice box, your voice can change. It may sound rougher (hoarse), strained, or breathy. And your voice can get quiet and tire faster. 

A speech therapist can help you learn to speak after your surgery. The exercises help your voice get stronger. Sometimes, your surgeon can repair your vocal cords, too.

Can you eat if your tongue is removed?

It can depend on your teeth and tongue. Without teeth or enough tongue, it can be harder to chew, swallow, or eat. You may need dental implants, dentures, or a tongue repair. A speech therapist and dietitian can help you learn to chew, swallow, and eat again.