Lip tie is when your infant’s frenulum, the piece of tissue behind the upper lip that connects it to their gums, gets too thick or stiff. This prevents the upper lip from moving freely. A tongue tie is when the tissue that attaches the tongue to the bottom of the mouth is too short or too tight. This affects your infant’s ability to easily move their tongue. In both cases, we can help.
Often midwives and lactation consultants will identify the problem and refer your child to us. This is critical, because if left untreated either condition can lead to difficulties with breastfeeding, bottle feeding and eventually speech development.
If your infant has a tongue or lip tie, they may have difficulty latching during breastfeeding. Your baby may struggle to get a comfortable latch or have difficulty remaining latched.
A gap between your child’s teeth could be a sign of lip or tongue tie. This gap is called diastema and this is usually a cosmetic concern.
Difficulty articulating certain speech sounds such as “T”, “D”, and “N” can be a sign of tongue tie. The inability of your baby to stick out their tongue and the reduced ability to use their tongue while eating are signs of tongue tie.
When your baby has difficulty latching and staying on during breastfeeding they may not empty the breast or a bottle. This can lead to weight loss, which can a sign of tongue tie.
We use the Kotlow classification to identify the severity of ties.
Depending on the Kotlow classification, we may use laser treatment to perform lip and tongue tie revisions.
It’s a simple and quick procedure.
Depending on the age, we may or may not use numbing gel or freezing. For a newborn, a medical condition called methemoglobemia is a concern and we may not use numbing to prevent this medical emergency. Most babies just need lots of feeding and cuddling to control pain after the treatment. Some may need infant acetaminophen (Tylenol).
The open surgical site can take two to three weeks for full healing. We will see your child for a post-operative visit to confirm normal healing.
This is the perfect place for toddlers and kids who never had a dental experience before. Very kind and playful staff. My 3-yearold daughter is keep asking me to go back.
L.A.
