What should I do if my baby has a short tongue?

When parents observe their children and find that their babies have short tongues, they are very worried about whether it will affect their future lives. So what should we do if our baby has a short tongue? Does he need to undergo surgery immediately? We have also consulted experts in this field on this series of questions. Let's hear what they say! We hope the following content will be helpful to everyone.

The short frenulum only causes unclear pronunciation of rolled tongue sounds

The frenulum is commonly known as the tongue tie, which is a thin strip of tissue between the tongue and the floor of the mouth when a child opens his mouth and lifts up his tongue. A short frenulum, commonly known as a "big tongue", is a congenital developmental abnormality, characterized by a short frenulum in the middle of the bottom of the tongue, which restricts the normal movement of the tongue. The tongue cannot extend out of the mouth or touch the upper lip. When the tongue is extended forward, the tip of the tongue becomes concave due to the traction of the tongue muscles, and the tip of the tongue becomes W-shaped (the tip of a normal person's tongue is V-shaped when extended). A short frenulum often causes problems with sucking, chewing and speaking, especially when pronouncing words, because the tip of the tongue cannot reach the front palate and retroflex sounds cannot be produced, making people feel like they have a "big tongue".

“Children with short tongue-tie should be able to speak when they reach the age of speaking, but except for unclear rolled tongue sounds, other sounds should be the same as normal children. Therefore, some parents suspect that their children have a short tongue-tie and ask for surgery when they see that their children speak little or pronounce unclearly. This is very wrong. We once treated a child who was 4 years old but could only say 'Dad, Mom'. After examination, we found that he had congenital idiocy, which had nothing to do with the length of his tongue-tie.” said the expert.

There are many reasons for unclear pronunciation.

There are two main reasons for inaccurate pronunciation: one is congenital physiological defects, such as congenital cleft lip and palate, missing or deformed teeth, and short frenulum of the tongue; the other is acquired diseases, such as children's childhood due to neurological diseases that cause uncoordinated movements of vocal organs, hearing loss, etc., which result in inaccurate pronunciation and inability to imitate correctly, and brain development disorders, etc. If it's not a tongue tie, cutting it won't make the child speak fluently.

In addition, when infants and young children are in the babbling stage, the language center and vocal organs of the brain are not yet mature. In addition, children are easily influenced by the surrounding language environment. For example, if their relatives use Mandarin and dialects alternately, it will be difficult for children to accept it, so slight errors in speech are understandable. Most children will gradually complete self-adjustment of their language system after the age of 4 and can communicate with adults seriously and well. Some children will have to wait until they enter school and learn before they can completely correct their behavior.

If the surgery is not done well, there will be greater trouble

Many parents find that their baby’s frenulum is relatively short, the tip of the tongue cannot curl up when the mouth is opened, and the tongue is not flexible, so they think it is abnormal. Experts say that in fact, the baby's tongue tie is in the development stage, and the baby is mostly in a tense state at this time. The tongue tie may appear "too short", but it is only a temporary physiological phenomenon and should not be considered abnormal. As age increases and deciduous teeth erupt, the frenulum of the tongue will gradually move downward to the floor of the mouth, becoming thinner and looser. The tongue's mobility will also become more flexible, and the frenulum will no longer be short.

Many parents believe that early surgery is necessary because a tongue-tie that is too short will directly affect a child's pronunciation and speech, while early surgery does not require anesthesia, stitches, and results in less bleeding, and the child will experience less pain. But Zhu Baoyu said: "If the surgery is not sutured, scars will easily form on the surgical wound. Many children will have to undergo a second surgery as they grow older, and the effect is not good. Moreover, during the surgery, young children are often unable to cooperate with the doctor well, and it is easy to cause accidental injury and infection. The opening of the submandibular gland duct is located on both sides of the frenulum. If the doctor's skills are not up to standard and his attitude is irresponsible, he may sew up the opening of the submandibular gland duct, resulting in local swelling and long-term atrophy of the submandibular gland."

It is not too late to have surgery after 4 years old

Studies have shown that if a child undergoes this surgery before the age of two, 95% of it is unnecessary. Experts remind that before the age of 4, unless there are recurrent ulcers or other conditions that may endanger health, there is no need to perform tongue-tie correction surgery immediately, just "wait and see". The effect of surgery is good after the age of 4. At this time, the child can cooperate with the doctor during the surgery, and it will not have much impact on the child's future pronunciation and recognition of words.

"We have also received some college students studying broadcasting and music to undergo tongue-tie surgery. These professions have high requirements for pronunciation. After the operation, generally after half a year, the previously abnormal anatomical relationship can be restored to normal, and new speech habits can be formed," said Zhu Baoyu.

Since this type of surgery is not necessarily better the earlier it is done, nor will it be less effective if it is done after the child grows up, don't rush to let your child undergo the surgery.

It seems that there is no need to rush to perform surgery on a baby with a short tongue. It is not too late to wait until after the baby is 4 years old. Parents should not be anxious, as it is useless. If parents choose to perform surgery before their baby is two years old, it will hinder the normal growth of the tongue. It is basically a waste of time and has no real significance. I hope parents will pay attention to this.