Tongue-Tie & Lip-Tie Treatment
If your little one struggles with speaking or feeding, you might be surprised that a simple surgery (known as a frenectomy) could dramatically improve your child’s development. What is a tongue tie? What is a lip tie? What is a frenectomy? Here, Floss Boss answers these burning questions and more.
Our Philosophy for Frenectomy
The frenulum is a patch of skin that can restrict the movement of the lips or tongue because it’s too short or tight. A frenectomy revises the connective tissue to help young children feed, communicate, and develop better and to relieve excess pressure on the frenulum.
Serving Flemington, Frenchtown, and Lebanon, pediatric dentist Dr. Kruti Sanghavi performs lip and tongue tie surgery with powerful laser light to correct conditions that have been present since birth. Sometimes, making decisions that improve your child’s growth and development can feel overwhelming. So, Floss Boss Pediatric Dentistry teams up with Hunterdon County speech therapists, pediatricians, lactation consultants, and other professionals for a comprehensive opinion and to see if correcting this common, congenital condition is necessary.
Typically, tongue-tie and lip-tie issues are diagnosed during a child’s first pediatric dentist visit. Still, the lingual and labial frenum might NOT affect your child’s eating, speaking, or swallowing functions. Hence, our team might suggest waiting for a few months after birth or getting a second opinion to see if a frenectomy is a good fit for your little one.
Our Approach to Frenectomy Procedures
Floss Boss harnesses the power of laser light during frenectomy because the level of precision, comfort, and safety cannot be matched by other dental tools. Because a laser frenectomy causes minimal discomfort, our dentist can generally perform lip and tongue tie surgery without local anesthetic. Also, lasers cauterize surgical wounds upon impact, which reduces the risk of excess bleeding, post-surgery infections, and other complications.
Frequently Asked Questions: Laser Frenectomy
1. What are the signs of a baby’s tongue tie?
Typically, a tongue tie can be caught at a young age, and here are some indications that your child could have one:
- Baby has trouble latching during breastfeeding
- Difficulties in lifting the tongue or moving it from side to side
- Have issues sticking your tongue out past the lower front teeth
- The tongue looks notched (heart-shaped) when it is stuck out
- Child might have trouble speaking or eating (and may be referred by the feeding therapist)
2. What are the symptoms of a lip tie in babies?
Like tongue ties, medical professionals can quickly detect lip ties in infancy. Here are some signs to look for if you’re worried about a lip tie:
- They might fall asleep, make a clicking sound, or experience fatigue while nursing
- Your child struggles to make certain sounds that require lip movements
- Your child experiences trouble sucking from a straw
3. Why should my child undergo a frenectomy?
Deciding to go through with a frenectomy is a personal choice, and we suggest getting other opinions from your child’s other health professionals to see if it’s necessary. Still, whether it’s an obvious issue or not, a lip-tie or tongue-tie could interfere with your child’s daily life. Consequently, correcting a tongue and lip tie can improve speech, eating, and breathing functions.
Experience Less Pain and Faster Recovery with Laser Frenectomy
Learn more about practical, comfortable laser lip-tie and tongue-tie releases in Flemington, NJ, and kindly call (908) 895-5749 or schedule an appointment online. Our board-certified pediatric dentist can thoroughly assess your child and recommend the best treatment solution for them.
