Why does biting your tongue cause death?

When we watch some movies or TV shows related to ancient times, we will see the phenomenon of biting the tongue to commit suicide. Many people are curious about this method of suicide and wonder if biting the tongue can really lead to death. The claim that biting the tongue can lead to death has no scientific basis. The tongue is an organ in the human oral cavity that contains rich sensory nerves.

The causes of death from "biting the tongue to commit suicide" can be divided into three categories, namely "death from pain", "blood loss" and "suffocation".

"Pain to death"

The main reason is that biting the tongue causes great pain, which leads to "neurogenic shock" and eventually causes "disorders in the respiratory and circulatory systems." However, this reason is untenable. First of all, there is a problem with the understanding of "neurogenic shock" in this reason. Although "neurogenic shock" can be simply understood as "shock caused by stimulation of the nervous system", it is definitely not "painful to death".

"Blood loss theory"

The reason is very straightforward, that is, the tongue contains a large number of capillaries and several thicker arteries and veins, so biting off the tongue will cause death from blood loss. But common sense shows that this reason is not valid. The total blood volume of the human body is about 4 to 5 liters, and blood loss must exceed 30%, or more than 1.5 liters, to be life-threatening. The blood vessels in the tongue will lose 1.5 liters of blood, and the time required is enough for blood clotting to stop the bleeding.

The "suffocation theory" can be divided into three theories:

One theory is that the severed tongue was swallowed, causing "choking to death".

Another theory is that the severed tongue root will "shrink into the throat" and cause suffocation.

The third theory is that the flowing blood entered the trachea and caused suffocation.

The reason for the first theory is that the tongue is an organ that assists swallowing, so after the tongue is bitten off, the separated tongue is swallowed due to the loss of swallowing function. However, if you think about it carefully, if you bite your tongue to commit suicide, or if you bite your tongue off accidentally, the severed end of the tongue will be on the outside of the front teeth, so the probability of it falling out of the mouth is much higher than being "swallowed". Furthermore, even if the severed tongue is swallowed, it is likely to enter the esophagus rather than the trachea. As for the second statement, it is actually difficult to establish. Because the part of the tongue that is bitten off is the free end of the front part, and the remaining back part of the tongue, its lower side is pulled forward and downward toward the mandible by the well-developed genioglossus muscle, making it difficult to "retract into the throat". Regarding the third statement, if the blood is to fully block the respiratory tract, the amount of bleeding required, although far less than "death from blood loss", is still considerable and requires long-term bleeding to achieve.