Have you ever heard of a “tied tongue”? When someone uses these terms, he is referring to a person having a short lingual frenulum, a fairly common problem among children that limits the mobility of the tongue. This limitation usually involves a series of consequences, including:

• Affectation to speech and language: since the tongue cannot be raised enough to pronounce consonants. As it requires contact of the tongue with the palate, it is sometimes very complicated.
• It may pose some difficulty to the infant, especially when it comes to pumping. Despite this, the natural instinct of the human being tends to develop other techniques to squeeze the mammary gland, so that it is not usually a relevant consequence.
• Injuries: The fact of having the short lingual frenulum implies a constant rubbing of the tongue with the lower teeth. This can cause some injury or tear.

How do I know if my baby has the short bridle?

Normally, the factors that indicate the existence of a short lingual frenulum are:

• When the frenulum is too close to the tip of the tongue.
• If the baby has a hard time sticking out his tongue.
• When you have difficulty eating.

Next step: how do we unpin a tongue with the short frenulum?

To solve this problem, small interventions of short duration consisting of the total removal of the frenulum or the relocation of the frenulum insertion in a normal position are used. In this way, we prevent it from getting worse in adulthood.

The problem of the upper labial frenulum                                              

This is a mucous fold that is located in the inner part of the lip inserted over the midline of the gum. It means that it is located between the upper central incisor teeth and that causes some of the problems discussed above. The process to solve the problem of the upper labial frenulum also corresponds to the surgery. In cases where there is diastema (a separation of more than 1mm between the two upper central incisors), orthodontics must be carried out beforehand to close the space.

If your child has a short lingual frenulum or a short upper lip frenulum, do not hesitate to visit a dentist of a surgeon to help you out. When the length of the lingual frenulum is only slightly shorter than that considered normal, it is possible that a rehabilitation treatment performed by a speech therapist will compensate for the mobility limitations of the tongue.