What Being Lip-Tied or Tongue-Tied Means For Children

Children experiencing lip-tied or tongue-tied can impact their health in various ways, including oral health. Tongue-tied and lip-tied are two very similar conditions that affect eating, speaking, and moving their mouth and can cause developmental problems with their dental health later in life. Luckily, these conditions can easily be treated. At OC Kids Dental, we can help you better understand these conditions, their causes, and how they can be treated!

How Lip-Ties and Tongues-Ties Affect Children And What It Means For Their Oral Health

Tongue and lip ties mean their tongues and lips cannot move freely. These conditions are caused by a more prominent frenulum in the mouth. The frenulum is a band of tissue along either the bottom of the tongue or at the top area of the lip line that assists with movement. If the frenulum is more prominent, it means that their mouths are restricted, which makes it harder for their mouths to develop, chew food, and pronounce words. 

When left untreated, these conditions can cause further problems as they grow, increasing the risk of cavities, gum disease, and bite problems. However, it’s also somewhat rare. Some symptoms to look out for when caring for your child include infant fatigue when eating, painful breastfeeding, and poor weight gain during their newborn years. 

Luckily, treating these conditions is relatively straightforward and risk-free, thanks to the expert care provided by pediatric dental surgeons. As specialists in pediatric oral surgery, they have many solutions on hand to help treat your child’s condition. These solutions include: 

• Frenectomies: A frenectomy is a simple surgery performed on infants and toddlers and works to remove the frenula for better mouth movement. Depending on the location of the frenulum, it can be performed under various types of sedation and performed on either the upper labial frenula or the lower lingual frenula.
• Frenuloplasties: Frenuloplasty works to alter the frenula instead of removing it completely with the goal of loosening it or repositioning it enough to increase mobility. Like frenectomies, they are performed with various forms of sedation depending on the patient and frenula location.
• Oral Myofunctional Therapy: Oral Myofunctional Therapy is a non-surgical treatment that helps reinforce movements to help your child breathe, swallow, and talk. As their facial muscles adapted to the larger frenula, the removal of the frenula means that they would need alternative therapy to help coordinate better mouth positions and movements. 

Visit OC Kids Dental For Quality Pediatric Care and Lip-Tie or Tongue-Tie Consultations

At OC Kids Dental, our team of pediatric dentists is here for all of your child’s needs. We work to provide the best source of pediatric dental care throughout our communities through a calm, fun-loving environment. We have pride and passion for our patients and work to give them preventative dental care that helps them grow and experience excellent oral health for life. To schedule a consultation with Dr. Cima Atabaki at OC Kids Dental and learn more about our dental services, call (949) 362-9860!

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