What issues can a tongue-tie cause?

Tongue-Tie Complications
  • Dental problems like tooth decay, swollen and irritated gums, and a gap between the lower two front teeth.
  • Gagging or choking on foods as your child starts to eat solids.
  • A hard time with basic things, like licking an ice cream cone and kissing.
  • Trouble saying d, l, n, r, s, t, th, and z sounds.
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What problems can tongue-tie cause?

Tongue-tie can interfere with the ability to make certain sounds — such as "t," "d," "z," "s," "th," "r" and "l." Poor oral hygiene. For an older child or adult, tongue-tie can make it difficult to sweep food debris from the teeth. This can contribute to tooth decay and inflammation of the gums (gingivitis).
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What happens if you don't fix tongue-tie?

After tongue-tie goes untreated as the baby grows into a young child, the child may experience these health consequences: Inability to chew. Choking, gagging, or vomiting foods. Eating in food fads.
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Can tongue-tie cause problems later in life?

While it's true that ankyloglossia is a hereditary condition, the problems associated with tongue- tie last long into adulthood. Untreated tongue-tie can lead to an array of breathing, dental, digestive, and facial development imbalances as well as a lifetime of difficulty eating and sleeping.
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Does tongue-tie need to be corrected?

Treatment for tongue-tie is controversial. Some doctors and lactation consultants recommend correcting it right away — even before a newborn is discharged from the hospital. Others prefer to take a wait-and-see approach.
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Tongue Tie Release Treatment



What age is best for tongue-tie surgery?

This simple, quick procedure often is done without anesthesia in babies younger than 3 months old because the area has few nerve endings or blood vessels.
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Can tongue-tie get worse with age?

Untreated tongue-tie may not cause any problems as a child gets older, and any tightness may resolve naturally as the mouth develops. However, tongue-tie can sometimes cause problems such as speech difficulties and difficulty eating certain foods.
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What is a Class 3 tongue-tie?

Class III – Class 3 ties are closer to the base of the tongue and attach to the mid-tongue and the middle of the floor of the mouth. These ties are generally tighter and less elastic. Class IV – Class 4 ties are the MOST COMMONLY MISSED ties. The front and sides of the tongue elevate, but the mid tongue can not.
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Can tongue-tie cause sleep problems in babies?

Finally, sleep is often impacted, beginning in infancy. If tongue-ties remain untreated, they can lead to structural and functional changes in the craniofacial-respiratory complex and can impact sleep throughout the lifespan. Tongue-ties and low tongue resting postures often lead to or exacerbate mouth breathing.
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Should I get my babies tongue-tie snipped?

Medical experts don't routinely 'snip' a tongue-tie, but the procedure is often recommended to improve breastfeeding. Nardone takes out surgical scissors. She isolated the frenulum, cut the cord, and then dabbed a bit of blood away with a gauze.
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Can a tongue-tie affect posture?

Problems with Posture, Neck & Back Pain

The head follows the tongue, and if a patient has a tongue tie, this means that the head is tilted low and forward. This posture affects the sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM), trapezius muscle, and surrounding muscles, and can result in the following symptoms: Head-forward posture.
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Can tongue-tie cause crooked teeth?

It can also cause a gap between the bottom two front teeth. A tongue-tie can also cause more serious dental development issues such as an open bite, crooked teeth, or an overbite.
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Are Tongue Tied babies more fussy?

When you put your finger in a tongue-tied baby's mouth, often the sucking motion will be uncoordinated and uneven, and they may break suction often. This can be frustrating for the baby, resulting in fussiness at the breast, and it can also be very exhausting, tiring baby out before getting a full feed.
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Can tongue-tie cause breathing issues?

Tongue tie forces the tongue to adopt a lower resting position, which interferes with the development of the palate. This can cause an abnormally arched or high palate, leaving less room for the nasal passageways above it and contributing to breathing difficulties, including OSA.
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Is tongue-tie surgery painful?

Tongue-tie surgery is no longer a one-size-fits-every-baby procedure. And there are different kinds of tongue-tie surgeries. Fortunately, the frenulum doesn't have a lot of nerves and blood vessels, so the surgery won't normally cause much pain or a lot of bleeding.
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What is a Class 4 lip tie?

The lip tie has four “levels” that describe the severity of the tie. Class 1 is the mildest and Class 4 is the most severe. Lip ties can occur on the upper or the lower lip, or it can occur in both places. Lip ties often accompany tongue ties, but they should be treated as separate cases.
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What is a Grade 2 tongue-tie?

Type II: The frenulum is fine and elastic, and the tongue is anchored 2 – 4 millimeters from the tip to the floor of the mouth close to the ridge behind the lower teeth. Type III: The frenulum is thick and stiffened, and anchors the tongue from the middle of the underside to the floor of the mouth.
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Can a tongue-tie grow back?

Tongue ties don't “grow back”, but they may reattach if you aren't diligent about keeping up with post-surgery exercises.
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How long is tongue-tie surgery recovery?

What's the recovery time for tongue-tie laser surgery? It takes about 2 weeks for your child's mouth to heal after a tongue-tie procedure. Laser tongue-tie surgery allows for a short recovery period. This is because the laser cauterizes the wound as it cuts.
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How much is a tongue-tie surgery?

The minor surgery allows infants to latch on or suck. The study points out that tongue-tie surgery can cost $850 to $8,000.
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Does tongue-tie affect speech development?

Speech A tongue tie does not necessarily cause speech problems, but difficulty with co-ordination of tongue movements can cause unclear speech, especially when children start putting words together in sentences. Difficulty with 'l' is also common.
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Does tongue-tie affect wind?

Gaps may be visible at the corners of baby's mouth and he may leak milk (sometimes profusely), or simply intake air with each suck, resulting in excessive flatulence or trapped wind. A tongue tie often can't be easily seen, therefore it takes someone skilled in lactation to piece things together.
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Does tongue-tie affect face shape?

Long term consequences of tongue tie can contribute to: Malocclusion, crowded/crooked teeth and facial disharmony requiring braces, surgery, or regular chiropractic or massage treatment. Under-development of the upper jaw and a flat mid-face. Over-development of the lower jaw contributing to a “crescent moon” profile.
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Does tongue-tie affect face?

A restricted lingual frenulum can impact the development of the face, speech, jaw, and tooth alignment and more. Early effects of tongue ties in infants and children can include: Difficulty latching while nursing.
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Can a tongue-tie cause an underbite?

Patients who have a short lingual frenulum, for example, tend to push out their lower jaw to reposition their tongue and make it easier to do things like speak and eat. In turn, this can cause an underbite, particularly in children whose mouths are developing rapidly.
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