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Transverse muscle

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

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The transverse muscles are one of the intrinsic group of tongue muscles. They lie as a sheet on either side of the midline in a plane that is deep to the superior longitudinal muscles but superficial to genioglossus.

As the name suggests, they run transversely from their origin at the fibrous lingual septum to insert into the submucous fibrous tissue at the lateral margins of the tongue.

Contraction of the transverse muscles act to narrow and increase the depth of the tongue.

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