If you have had difficulty or pain while breastfeeding, you may want to make sure your baby doesn’t have a condition called tongue-tie.
Tongue-tie happens when there’s a strip of tissue connecting the bottom of the tongue’s tip to the floor of the mouth. Tongue-tie can make it difficult for infants to breastfeed and interfere with their ability to eat and speak later on.
Thankfully, our Grand Rapids tongue-tie dentists at GR Family Dental are able to perform a procedure called a to free the tongue.
Symptoms of Tongue-Tie
If you notice any of the symptoms of tongue-tie in your infant, schedule an appointment with one of our family dentists. Our dentists have experience performing tongue-tie surgery so your baby’s oral development will proceed unhindered.
A frenectomy will ensure that they are able to speak properly!
If you’re unsure how to tell if your baby is tongue-tied, we recommend scheduling an appointment with one of our dentists. Symptoms of infant tongue-tie include:
- Tongue has limited range of motion
- Tongue looks heart-shaped, especially when infant sticks out tongue
- Infant can’t move tongue past bottom front teeth
- Baby has trouble breastfeeding
- Baby is not gaining weight as they should
- You have nipple pain when breastfeeding
Health Benefits of a Frenectomy
A is a safe procedure that can be performed at any age. Once the lingual frenulum has been cut, your child will be able to speak, eat, and swallow properly.
Treating tongue-tie at a young age will ensure that they are able to speak properly. Certain sounds are difficult to pronounce when the tongue doesn’t have full range of motion, such as “t,” “th,” and “z.”
Another benefit of scheduling tongue-tie surgery for your child is that they will be able to maintain a healthy oral hygiene routine. A tongue-tie makes it difficult to brush teeth, increasing your child’s risk of cavities and gum disease. Over time, a tongue-tie can also affect your child’s oral development so a gap forms between the two bottom front teeth.
Schedule an Appointment
Our Grand Rapids, MI, frenectomy dentists are dedicated to helping your child maintain good oral health. Call GR Family Dental today at (616) 455-3020, or contact us online to request an appointment.