All You Need to Know about Lip and Tongue-Tie

All You Need to Know about Lip and Tongue-Tie

Remedies for tongue/lip tie treatment in Houston, TX, are readily available from the pediatric dentist in Houston, TX. The symptoms of tongue/lip tie cause difficulties in babies when breastfeeding and talking. A baby with this condition can also confront tongue/lip ties and other issues later in life.

An Overview of Tongue/Lip Tie

If you want to understand what you are looking for, you must initially realize the basics of tongue and lip ties. This condition is known as tethered oral tissue in medical terminology but is also referred to as ankyloglossia. The causes of tongue/lip tie are thick and malformed oral tissues. When the lingual frenulum connecting the tongue to the floor of the mouth is either distorted, short, or thick, it results in a tongue-tie.

Lip ties are also similar. The condition occurs when the frenulum attaching the upper or lower lip to the gums is either full, short, or inadequately formed, resulting in mobility issues with the lips.

Symptoms of Tongue and Lip Tie

If your baby is affected by ankyloglossia, the child may display the following symptoms:

• The baby may have difficulties lifting their tongue to the upper teeth or moving it from side to side.
• The baby confronts challenges pushing the tongue out past the lower front teeth.
• The baby’s tongue appears heart-shaped or notched when they stick it out.

When to Have the Baby Examined by a Doctor or Dentist?

• You can contact the pediatric dentist near me if your baby displays signs of a tongue-tie causing problems like having trouble with breastfeeding.
• A speech-language pathologist believes the child’s speech is affected by tongue-tie.
• You hear complaints from your older child of tongue problems interfering with eating, speaking, or reaching the posterior teeth.
• You are concerned by your symptoms of tongue-tie.

Risk Factors of Tongue/Lip Tie

Tongue-Tie can practically affect anyone. However, it is more common in boys and girls, and the problem also has genetic reasons.

Tongue-tie’s are caused when the lingual frenulum does not separate before birth to allow the tongue free range of motion. The lingual frenulum does not separate but remains attached to the bottom of the tongue. The medical fraternity does not know why this problem occurs, although cases of tongue-tie are associated with some genetic factors.

The complications of tongue and lip ties can result in breastfeeding issues among children because they cannot keep their tongue over the lower gum tissue when sucking. Older adults have challenges maintaining proper oral hygiene because the tongue-tie makes it difficult for them to clean food debris from their teeth. The problem contributes to tooth decay and gingivitis. A tongue-tie can also result in the formation of gaps or spaces between the front two bottom front teeth.

Tongue and lip tie can meddle with other movements like licking ice creams, lips, kissing, or playing wind instruments.

How Is a Tongue and Lip Tie Diagnosed?

A physical examination is sufficient to diagnose a tongue-tie. Dentists use screening tools to analyze a tongue-tie among infants. The screening tool helps the dentist to score different aspects of the tongue’s appearance and its ability to move.

What Is the Treatment for Tongue/Lip Tie?

The remedy for tongue-tie is fraught with controversy, with some doctors recommending correcting it right away even before the newborn baby is discharged from the hospital. Many practitioners prefer to adopt the wait-and-see approach.

Tongue/lip tie treatment in Houston, TX, may include surgical procedures like frenotomy, which is a straightforward procedure and is performed with or without anesthesia in the pediatric dentist’s office. The lingual frenulum is examined by the pediatric dentist in Houston, TX, before using sterile scissors to snip the frenulum free. The procedure is quick, and the baby experiences minimal discomfort and can begin breastfeeding immediately after the procedure.

The Houston pediatric dentist recommends an extensive procedure called frenuloplasty if more work is needed or the lingual frenulum is too thick for a frenotomy. The comprehensive procedure is performed under general anesthesia with surgical tools. After releasing the frenulum, the dentist closes the wound with sutures that dissolve as the tongue heals.

Lip and tongue-tie’s are common in boys and girls as described earlier, but treatments for the condition are readily available from the medical fraternity, including dentists. Lip and tongue-tie are undoubtedly causing problems, but treatments for the state are available to correct your baby’s on your situation if affected by this problem.