What should I do if my child has a short tongue tie?

The so-called tongue tie is actually the tongue tendon that everyone is familiar with. Everyone has a tongue tie. Open your mouth in front of the mirror and lift your tongue up. You can see a tendon under the tongue. This is the so-called tongue tie. If a child's tongue tie is relatively short, it will affect the movement function of the tongue. In severe cases, it will affect the child's pronunciation. So how to solve the problem of short tongue tie in children?

What should I do if my child has a short tongue tie?

I think people rarely pay attention to the term "tongue tie". In folk culture, it is also called tongue tendon, which refers to the tendon connecting the tongue and the bottom of the mouth that can be seen when you open your mouth and curl up your tongue. Under normal circumstances, the frenulum of the tongue allows the tongue to extend out of the mouth flexibly and lick the philtrum or the upper front teeth. Newborn babies may have a tongue tie that is too short.

So how do you determine if your baby’s tongue tie is too short? What kind of impact will a tongue tie that is too short have on the baby? Can it be cured? Don’t worry, we will answer them one by one today.

According to medical investigation, the ratio of male to female babies with tongue tie is 2.3~2.7:1.0. This means that boys are more likely to have tongue-tie than girls. The specific manifestation of tongue tie is that the baby's tongue tip is not the normal "V" shape but a "W" shape. The tongue cannot extend forward freely. The part that extends out of the mouth is not as long as that of a normal baby. Moreover, when the tongue extends forward, it will be pulled by the tongue muscles, causing a depression.

A short tongue tie may affect the baby's eating, making it impossible for the baby to suck or chew food normally. During breastfeeding, milk leakage may occur. In addition, since the tongue has little space to move, it is difficult to chew food, and the baby tends to eat slowly. The tongue is also prone to rubbing against the lower front teeth, causing oral ulcers, which will have a certain impact on the baby's healthy development. Moreover, a short tongue tie can also cause obstacles to the baby's speech. The baby cannot pronounce some syllables accurately, which gives people the feeling that he is speaking with a large tongue. This has a very adverse effect on the child's long-term development and may cause psychological barriers to the baby.

However, if the baby's tongue tie is really too short, mothers don't need to worry too much. The treatment of a short tongue tie is very simple. As long as you communicate with the doctor in advance, you can perform tongue tie surgery on your baby under local anesthesia. In most cases, this is a relatively minor disease, so the surgical risk is correspondingly low.

However, most medical experts believe that if you want to treat tongue-tie, it is best to schedule the surgery when the baby is 4 and a half to 5 and a half years old. Because the baby's tongue tie is still very thin at this time, the amount of bleeding during the operation will be relatively small, making it easier for the wound to heal and less likely to leave scars. Most importantly, the baby at this stage already has a certain ability to distinguish and can cooperate with the doctor during the operation, which can not only reduce the baby's own pain, but also will not cause any impact on the child's future.