Seeking Advice About Tongue Tied Surgery

Hi! My son was 2 when we had his tongue clipped and there was nothing to it. As a matter of fact his dentist did it in his office when he pulled my sons top 4 front teeth. My son never even acted like anything happened.

I suggest that if you have this done have them give you a prescription to relax you son that he will take before he goes and don't let him know you are scared. He will be okay.

MY sis-n-law is a speech pathologist. If you would like a second opinion, i can give you her information.

My little girl had her done when she was 4 months old. It didn't take long (they put her to sleep and did tubes in her ears and clipped her tongue). She didn't have any problems recovering, they said she may be a little uncomfortable eating for a day or so, but she did just fine. I was nervous before they did it, but it wasn't bad at all. I'd definately get it done. GOOD LUCK

Hi K.,

I am a scrub tech in surgery and this is a minor procedure. Usually the doctor will notice this long before a child is 4 years old, however, don't sweat it, it is an in and out procedure. My daughter had it done but she was only about 6 weeks old. Do it...it will be well worth it to you and especially to your child. Good luck...

K., I'm surprised that your pediatrician hasn't said anything about the tongue tie problem during 4 years of well baby checks. Besides causing speech problems, it also can cause nursing and eating problems. It's not a big deal to correct. Takes no time at all and doesn't require general anesthesia. As for the missing teeth, my kids started losing their front baby teeth at 4 years old, so I wouldn't think his missing teeth would cause any comment at school. The speech impediment will. Please check into it ASAP. The worst thing to fear about this situation is NOT KNOWING. Once you put the ball in motion, you'll find there is nothing to be afraid of. Good luck!

Hey K.,
I am a family nurse practitioner and i used to work ENT (ear,nose and thoat) The procedure you are talking about is a frenulectomy. it is a fairly common procedure, they will probably put your child to sleep, but the whole thing will probably take less than 20 minutes. i know when its your child though, even that is a big deal, my daughter (9mths) had her adenoids taken out a few weeks ago and although it was only a 15 min. surgery, it was still scary to put her to sleep.
I have seen a few people come in for this surgery and the outcome was always positive! a lot of them were teenagers who didn't have this done as a child and were still having speech problems and singing difficulties. i am not trying to sway your decision one way or the other, just wanted to give you personal testimony.
Keep us posted on your decision and the outcomes.

L.

My name is T. and my son is also 4 yrs old. He was born tongue tied and he also just knocked out his front tooth. I'm also a dental assistant and the whole procedure went really quick but I had them put him to sleep and he was done within minutes. He is talking a lot better and never had any trouble with it. You can have it done in dental office with just numbing him up but I think it is better when they are a sleep. Especially with this.

My son, who turned 44 yesterday, was also tongue tied and on one of his early visits to the Dr, only a few weeks or months old the Dr said he's tongue tied, reached in and clipped and it was over with in seconds. I don't think it was like all the way to the end of his tongue as some are, but it was no big deal and this was 44 years ago. They probably do things a lot differently now, but there was no putting to sleep or even numbing and no adverse effects. Good Luck, but I wouldn't worry too much.

my son was born tongue tied and it effected his ability to nurse. Once I finally found a Dr that would do the 2 second surgery, life got so much easier for us! He was two months old when we got it done. And he started making the funniest faces, stiking out his tongue. The first Dr that we talked to about getting it clipped said it was a major procedure and that he would have to have anesthesia. The dr that finally did the surgery looked at it and said "oh yeah, let me go get a nurse to hold him down" then got a pair of sterile scissors and clipped the skin under the tongue. He bled for a few seconds and hardly cried at all. I don't know how bad your son's tongue is, but if it's gone this long w/o needing serious medical attention, I would imagine that it shouldn't be that hard of a procedure. And in the long run, it will benefit your son a lot.

It is a minor thing, and helped a little girl in our family greatly.

we had my granddaughters tongue clipped at age 3. done at the hospital as out pt surgery. she came thru it with flying colors. her speech did not improve as quick as we thought it would. she is in pre k now and in speech therapy now. doing better. speech habits are hard to break.

We had this procedure done on our 6-yr-old this past November. If you are going to do it, don't wait too long. He was far too aware of the things going on when we went in for the surgery. He also awoke from the anesthesia very frightened, unaware of where he was. He didn't have a speech problem, but we felt that in coming years, there could be problems with other children picking on him, etc. If you do have the procedure done, definitely bring someone with you to drive home, so that you can comfort your child after awakening. I would also ask that the doctor's office call in the pain medication to your pharmacy earlier in the day, so that you can pick it up on your way home. We had to wait, with my child crying, for that medicine. They also recommended giving him some ice cream right after, to soothe the pain, and also since he hadn't eaten in a while. Think hard about when you will take him in for the surgery. We went in the afternoon, he wasn't able to eat after 9am, which was pretty hard for a growing boy. It also gave him too much time to consider what was going to be done. All in all, I think that he is proud that he can stick out his tongue now, but I wished we had done it earlier. As far as price goes, we had a oral surgeon perform the frenectomy, and he charged $375. My insurance said it didn't cover, but in the end, it actually paid for some of it. Definitely worth checking on. I wish you all the luck, and you'll be in my prayers.

K.,
We had to have our Down Syndrome child tongue clipped, because it was attached so closley to the end of his tongue he could not even stick his tongue out or raise it to the roof of his mouth, which is necessary to pronounce some words. This was a simple procedure that we had his ear, throat and nose doctor do. It greatly help his speech, I wish we had done it sooner than we did, he was about 12 I think. Some doctors will tell you it's not necessary and won't help, but every case is different and it help our son, and it didn't seem to bother him have the surgery. Usually the younger they are when they have things the faster they heal, and it bothers them less. Hope this helps.

Please Please Please get his tongue clipped. I was tongue tied, my parents found out when I was 3 and they decided not to get it clipped. I was lucky that I didn't have any speech problems from it, BUT I did have self esteem problems. He won't be able to stick his tongue out and kids will notice. Plus I had a gap for awhile between my 2 bottom teeth and sometimes when I stuck my tongue out that little piece of skin would get stuck between my teeth. OUCH!! I decided to have the surgery when I was 17. It wasn't painful by any means, but I couldn't eat anything solid for at least a week and I couldn't talk for awhile. Then when I was able to start talking I had a little lisp, which eventually went away. I think it would've been much easier to have it done when I was a child. I basically almost had to relearn how to talk. My daughter is tongue tied (she's only 6 mos) but she will be getting her tongue clipped as soon as she's old enough.

Hope this helps.
:) S.

My son was also born tongue tied and we had it clipped when he was 10 months old. He had surgery for something else but we asked the surgeon to clip his tongue since he was already going to be anesthetized. After the surgery, he didn't have any trouble drinking, eating, etc the day of surgery. It would likely be done as an out-patient surgical procedure because think it does require general anesthesia but I could be wrong on that. I would talk to your pediatrician about seeing a pediatric surgeon for a consult. They would be able to answer all your questions so you could make an informed decision about your options. Hope this helps.

Hi K.,
Both of my kids had this when they were born, and the pediatrician did it in his office, when they were just months old. Now that your son is older it might entail a bit more, but I would ask the pediatrician about it and what he might do to deaden it so it won't hurt as much. It's very simple, or was when my kids had it done at a younger age.
C.

both of my nephews have had this done about your son's age and it went of really well. I am suprised the speech therapist hasn't said something. One of my nephew's said that he felt funny that his words sounded different. so she had both of them done. I would get it done asap.

My daughter had this done when she was 2. It is a very quick procedure - only about 15 minutes from the time they took her back to the time the doctor came to tell us she was in recovery. They put her completely under with general anesthetic, which was the scariest part for me. In recovery, her face was pretty swollen, and it took her a few days to bounce back to normal. They gave her some juice to drink, and we had to stay for about an hour to make sure she didn't have any adverse reactions coming out of the anesthesia. All in all, she did well, with no side effects. She did have some partial regrowth, and some kids will experience a total regrowth (becoming tongue-tied again). I hope that helps!

Hi!

I am not surprised that your son is having trouble pronouncing words if he is tongue tied. I was also tongue tied, from my Dad's side apparently, since he had his clipped kind of late and he still pronounces certain words incorrectly because he learned to say them incorrectly (esp the TH sound). I actually cut mine while playing ("Don't run with that, you'll put an eye out!" - or clip your own tongue-heh). When we arrived at the ER with me bleeding out of my mouth, the doctor told my mom that I'd saved her the trouble of having it done surgically. I have no trouble at all with diction. I'd say do it as soon as possible so he'll have an easier time with speech, but ask your pediatrician. Good luck!!

I honestly recommend to get as far away from a tongue tied surgery as possible. Get a new dentist. My cousin had her tongue cut for being tongue tied as a young child with speech problems, and in return see spent of single year in school going through speech therapy, and even now she has trouble speaking (see is already 23 years old).

I would recommend that you stay on the road you are on, get a speech therapist (if needed) and see if this is a problem that can be corrected over time.

I realized at nine months that my son was tongue tied. I clipped it myself and it was no big deal had to even do it twice. He cried for a little bit and that was that. No big deal.
My husband refuses to have his done.
So just tell him its no big deal and doesn't hurt for very long.

reading all of these comments has really helped me with my fear of getting the procedure done for my six month ago. i noticed it when he wouldnt latch on at birth, and his dr recommended it but i was scared of just the thought of mouth surgery on an infant. but when she told me today it could cause speech problems i agreed but just needed this reassurement that the procedure is harmless and quick.

My nephew was tongue-tied and it was affecting his speech. My sister had the surgery done on the advice of his pediatrician and a family friend who is a highly-qualified speech therpaist. He came through surgery fine and his speech problem has disappeared. Good luck to you - I know it scary!

If the dentist and the doctor agree then I would have the procedure done. The younger the better. Schools offer speech therapy but you want to give him every opportunity to succeed and doing this now might prevent him from some hardships in school. Every class has some kids that will make fun of any kid for any reason and you don't want to set him up for that. Do it now and you have time for him to heal and be with you. Remember -- you are his first teacher.

Hey K.,

It is a very simple, outpatient procedure. I have known several children to have this done, and they were up and running within a few hours. It is worth it to help him with his speech. Good luck with the decision!

K., Two of my children have had this problem. One had the surgery and it was very minor, done at the dentist office and created no problems. The other child threw such a screaming fit that we decided to put it off and it just never got done. Both children are grown now and the one that didn't get it done wished she did. I believe it would be beneficial from a health standpoint in later years for them to have full range of motion of the tongue muscle. I am a geriatric nurse and I see elderly folks with chewing and swallowing problems and I believe this issue will hinder your child in many ways throughout life.

Hello K., I have two beautiful little boy's one is 3 and one is 20 months. My oldest son was born tongue tied. I know your fears!! I work in the medical field and my immediate concern was for his speech. I discovered his on my own at home when he was 7/8 months old and he was already starting to talk some and I was afraid he would learn to say things the wrong way and have a hard time correcting it. They would not do surgery until he turned one so the day after his first b day we had it fixed. He was fussy that day but by the next you couldn't even tell any thing had happened to him. They did not completely put him to sleep to do it. They took him to surgery and an anesthesia person just used the gas to put him to sleep and kept him that way until they were done. He was screaming his head off right after so expect that but that is just from the anesthesia. It does that to all kids. When he calmed down he was just a little groggy and fussy the rest of the day. Your child is a little older so it may be a little different. We didn;t need pain meds or anything just a little tylenol. Since your child is older it may require a little pain medication. It can't do anything but help his speech. I know it's scary to think about your child going to surgery, trust me I've been there!! I'll kepp you in my prayers!

The term for this is a fore-shortened frenum. I have one and didn't even notice it until I started singing. I wish mine had been clipped. Two of my children also have this. Only one was affected by it as far as speech goes. The muscles on the inside of her mouth are weak as a result of it. Like you, speech therapy helped tremendously once we got her in to a good one. From what I understand it can be a simple procedure with a bit of novacaine to numb the area and then a little snip. Each case is different though. I know of some speech therapists that are adamantly against it but considering it's a simple procedure with the possibility of helping I don't see anything wrong with it and am even considering getting mine done when I can afford it as it is not covered by insurance for me. My daughter and I have talked about it for her but she doesn't want to do it. Have you talked to your pediatrician about it? Talk to your son and see how he feels about it.

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I am a speech therapist and have recommended this surgery many times. You will need to go to an ENT to have it done. It is not a huge deal, the ENT will basically burn it and it will leave a small blister for a couple of days. It is usually done in the office or in an outpatient facility. I saw one child who had it done in the morning and was in preschool by the afternoon.

My daughter was tongue tied when she was born and it was the first time I had ever heard of it. We had to see an ear, nose and throat doctor and we had the surgery done when she was only 6 months old. It was a little snip and maybe 2 or 3 dissolving stiches. We had no special care or any problems, it was that easy. The dr. did say that it is a good thing that we had it done because it was worse that what it looked and that if we wouldn't have had it done she would have definately developed speech problems. If you have any more questions please let me know.

Hi K., I have a son who is tongue tied since birth also. I took him at around age 2 to see an oral surgen who advised he have the procedure, frenectomy is the medical term for the surgery if you want to goole it. Due to not having medical insurance the cost would have been about $3,000 and we were not able to have it done. He is now 11 years old and he has no difficulty speaking what so ever, no difficulty eating except for icecream cones sometimes. I am not a fan of unnecessary procedures and if you and your husband feel it is not a problem I would definately advise changing dentist. I also would like to say YOU are his MOTHER go with your gut! Good luck to you.

my youngest daughter was born tongue and went to the doctors and he told my that they don't clip them anymore cause they can tear real easy but hard to repair so he told us to teach her to stick out her tongue the more she sticks it out the more it streaches the tongue when she could stick it way out her mouth then we had to teach her not to stick it out but the tongue needs to be made longer that the safe way good luck and by the way my daughter is 39

I worked with a surgeon that did cliped the area in the office on babies and toddlers and I never saw any probelms that happened with it. Good luck.

My nephew had that surgery less than a year ago, and he is just fine now. It is a simple procedure. If the doctors say that it is necessary, go ahead and do it. It will help tremendously. As an educator, I can also say that anything you can do to help your son would be of benefit. Have a speech difficulty can be extremely difficult on a child in school.

I have read the other responses you've gotten. I had my son's toungue clipped at 6 months old. It really depends on the the severity of the "tied' toungue. My son could not stick his toungue out. He barely came passed his bottom lip. he had no issues with the surgery during or after. I am guessing that this is like tonsils, the younger you are the easier it is to bounce back from. I would think that there wouldn't be much a dentist could do with teeth that aren't there. A friend of mine's 4 year old had to have her 4 top teeth pulled because of a fast set decay. The dentist told her that since the baby teeth weren't there, the permanent teeth would be more likely to come in early. I wonder what it is the dentist told you he could do. Follow your instinct.

I worked for an oral surgeon for several years. Being tongue-tied means that the little strip of tissue that attaches your tongue to the floor of your mouth (you can see it when you raise your tongue up) is too short. This can inhibit normal speech. This does not go away on it's own. The surgery itself is not that awful. There are lots of things that can be done to make the surgery as easy as possible. He can be given a pill before surgery to make him sleepy, nitous oxide gas, and medications given in a vein are some options. He will also get the injections in the mouth to numb everything up. There are some circumstances that may even need to be handled in an outpatient area of a hospital for general anesthesia. He probably won't even remember the surgery. He will be a little sore afterwards, but the mouth heals very quickly (especially on a little guy.) Ask your dentist to recommend a good oral surgeon who is used to working with children. Make an appointment and see what he/she has to say. He/she is the best one to answer all of your questions and make the best plan for your son. The surgeon will tell you exactly how he plans to do the surgery, how long it will take, and what to expect afterwards.