Tongue Ties – Tell me more!
Over the past 10+years our team have been striving to learn as much as we can about supporting our patients with their tongue tie journey.
The rate at which research, study and clinical experience is developing in this area is vast and can be overwhelming for many families. Here is some information we hope you find helpful.
Everybody has a lingual frenum, but not everybody has a tongue tie.
A tongue tie is when the tissue under the tongue (lingual frenum) is too short or tight and restricts the proper mobility of the tongue. In medical terms, it is called “ankyloglossia”.
Limited tongue mobility commonly impacts the biomechanics (functional movement) of drinking, eating, speaking; and over time it may also affect the growth of the craniofacial bones and teeth in response to these altered muscle actions.
We provide Infant, Child & Adult pre-frenectomy and post-frenectomy therapy: Osteopathic ‘bodywork’, Orofacial Myology, AND Craniosacral Therapy!
‘Functional concerns’
The primary ‘function’ an infant needs to master is milk feeding via breast or bottle. A tongue tie is not the only consideration when these symptoms might present, but it is important to identify, or exclude, a tongue tie if you’re seeking support to help your baby feed well.
Breastfeeding functional concerns may include:
Bottle-feeding functional concerns may include:
Common functional concerns regardless of milk-feeding method:
Many people live with tongue restriction and do not experience troublesome symptoms. For others, the degree of compensation required is significant and their symptoms may increase as a result.
Clinically, it is not uncommon for adult patients with tongue restriction to complain of jaw/TMJ pain or clicking; have a history of extensive dental work or crowded teeth; suffer tension headaches and/or upper neck & back pain; struggle to hold their head up in ‘good’ posture, or find nose-breathing difficult.
Our Osteopathic team may assist you with tongue tie and oral motor assessment, and provide your clinical management toward assisting your functional goals.
Most often, an inter-disciplinary approach is required – but it’s different for everyone!
This might include a dentist or doctor to surgically release the tongue restriction; an ENT to assess nasal breathing; a speech pathologist to help with speech sounds or swallowing difficulty for example.
Importantly, WE offer you the Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (or Play-Based Oral Motor Therapy) to improve tongue function, lip seal and breathing for all your facial muscles to work toward restoring optimal function to breathe well, sleep well, eat well and speak well.
