Treat Tongue-Tie Early for Proper Growth and Development

Is your child experiencing difficulty with feeding, speech or growth? It might be due to a tongue-tie, a condition where the tongue is connected to the floor of the mouth. Early intervention is critical in preventing negative effects, as a tongue-tie can limit your baby’s range of tongue motion and lead to developmental issues with speech, breathing, tooth alignment and more. Treating tongue tie early will help prevent these problems.

The Impact of Tongue-Tie
Babies with tongue-tie will grow up developing negative adaptive behaviors to compensate for their tongue-tie. Infants may fail to nurse well, and have trouble transitioning to solid foods. As they get older, they may experience problems eating or swallowing, and avoid certain types of food which can affect their growth. A tongue-tie can also impact speech development and can lead to long-term speech impediments. It can also lead to mouth breathing, sleep apnea and severely misaligned teeth. Waiting to treat these problems can result in life-long problems requiring intensive therapy to correct.

Tongue-Tie treatment

Releasing tongue-ties is safe and simple. A non-surgical approach requires no hospital or surgery center. The entire procedure requires a minimum level of anesthesia, is pain-free, uses no laser or sutures and takes less than 10 minutes.

While you comfortably hold your baby, a small amount of local anesthetic allows the surgeon to release the tongue with specialized surgical scissors. This results in an immediate release and mobility of the tongue. Your baby can return home and begin eating and drinking immediately.

Early Detection Is the Key

Early detection of a tongue-tie is essential in preventing negative effects. If you notice that your infant is experiencing issues while nursing, failure to thrive, difficulty maintaining a latch or feeding too frequently, it may be due to a tongue-tie. The earliest interventions eliminate the risk of long-term negative effects, so do not delay an evaluation, even if your baby is very young.

If your baby is experiencing any of these problems, contact Dr. Levitin at NYC Tongue Tie for a consultation and treatment. Early intervention for tongue-tie helps prevent negative impacts and creates the conditions for proper growth and development.