The terms ‘ankyloglossia’ or ‘tongue tie’ refer to a restricted lingual frenum due to fibrous tissue, usually leading to reduced mobility of the tongue.
It is important to note that tongue-tie does not necessarily impair speech, but it can cause defective articulation .It has been noted clinically that occasionally an older child or adult will be self-conscious, embarrassed or resentful about their tongue tie.
Simple exercises alone will not improve speech. If you want to improve speech, you have to work on speech therapy.
Tongue Tie Surgery
Tongue-tie surgery is a simple procedure and there are normally no complications. For very young infants say less than six-weeks-old, it may be done in OT as a minor procedure. General anesthesia may be recommended when frenulectomy is performed on older children. But in older children and adults it can be done in the minor OT under local anesthesia.
Laser Surgery
This relatively new option is suitable for neonates, older children and adults. No general anesthetic is used, but an analgesic gel might be applied except in new born and infants. The procedure is very quick, taking only 2 to 3 minutes to perform, but some cooperation from the patient in keeping still is required in older children.
There is virtually no bleeding, no pain, no risk of infection and the healing period can be as short as 2 hours. It is best to have this procedure performed by a specialist in the area of laser surgeon who is familiar with tongue tie surgery.
Speech Therapy
Following surgery, speech therapy should begin as soon as possible after healing is complete. Articulation of specific sounds may be consistently defective, particularly where pronunciation requires lingual elevation, as in T, D, and N and these defects can be addressed with conventional therapy exercises.
Management of tongue tie includes appropriate surgical intervention followed by speech therapy.
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