Should My Baby Have a Tongue Tie or Lip Tie Release?

Lip Tie Release: New parents often feel panic when their paediatrician or dentist tells them that their child has a tongue tie or lip tie. No worries. Knowledge is power — and the dental health professionals here at Integrity Dental can help you wade through all the information so you can make the best decision for your child.

What Is Tongue Tie?

Tongue tie occurs when a thin piece of skin under your baby’s tongue is shorter than normal. The problem is that it can restrict your child’s tongue movement. According to the paediatric experts at the Royal Women’s Hospital, restricted tongue movement can interfere with your baby’s ability to latch on to the breast. It can keep your child from getting all the nutrition she needs in her formative first few years. More serious cases can cause mouth pain in young children.

Later on, it can affect dental hygiene, making it more difficult for your child to brush and floss his teeth. Because the tongue impacts how people speak, particularly certain letters, it can interfere with proper speech.

Symptoms can include:

• Your baby’s tongue can’t extend beyond her lips.
• Your baby cannot move her tongue sideways.
• Your child’s tongue is heart-shaped, notched, square, or flat rather than pointed.
• Your child has difficulty with breastfeeding.

What Is Lip Tie?

In a lip tie, the muscle that attaches the top lip to the gum develops thicker and longer than normal. Children with lip tie often have difficulty opening their top lip.

Lip tie, too, can affect your child’s comfort level, as well as his speech. Because your child can’t open his lip adequately, it can affect his facial expressions as well.

A lip tie can also cause a gap between the two upper front teeth, clinically referred to as a midline diastema which can cause crowding /misalignment of the other teeth requiring orthodontic correction.

Can a Tongue Tie or Lip Tie Release Help My Child?

If your child’s ability to breastfeed, speak, or portray normal expressions is hampered, a lip tie or tongue tie release can provide your child with instant relief. Since lip ties and tongue ties don’t self-correct over time, it’s a prudent step to take to ensure your child a better now and a better future.

At Integrity Dental, we use leading-edge laser technology to make sure the procedure is as pain-free as possible for your child. This minimally invasive treatment is safer than traditional scissors cut, and will set your child free to eat, speak, and enjoy life. To learn whether a tongue tie or lip tie release is right for your child, get in touch with the Integrity Dental team today!