My girl's tongue tendon is particularly short, and I want to do tongue correction surgery for the child, but the child's father feels that it is not necessary. Don't do it for fear of affecting your child's pronunciation, and do it and worry about it. Doctor, what the hell to do?
Often parents find that their babies speak clearly, their tongues cannot move naturally, and their hearts are anxious! Is the baby's tongue ties too short? Shouldn't I cut my tongue?
Today, I will give you a look at this aspect of science.
What is "tongue tendon"?
Tongue ties, commonly known as tongue tendons, refer to a soft tissue tying under the tongue. Normally, the tongue ties of newborns extend from the base of the mouth to the tip of the tongue or near the tip of the tongue.
Under normal circumstances, the tongue tie of the newborn is close to the tip of the tongue, the tip of the baby's tongue is short and the tongue is wide, and the fixation of the tongue tie is conducive to sucking. With the change of food properties from pure milk - semi-solid - solid, the shape of the tongue in the process of obtaining food in the infant also gradually changes, the tongue ties gradually absorb, the tip of the tongue becomes longer, and finally the tongue can naturally extend and move freely. After the age of 2 years, the tongue morphology is close to that of adults.
The tongue is lacerated normally, the tongue can move freely, and the tip of the tongue can naturally stick out of the mouth or lick up to the gums.
Trivia: What is a tongue tie short
Tongue frenulum short commonly known as "big tongue" is a congenital dysplasia, refers to the tongue tie in the middle of the tongue base attached to the tip of the tongue later, one end attached to the anterior side of the base of the mouth, so that the normal activity of the tongue is restricted, can not freely move the front body, the tongue tip of the tongue when the tongue is extended forward to show a "W" shape, there are incisions.
Tongue ties are too short to judge criteria
a. The tongue cannot be freely extended forward, and after extension, it cannot exceed the red edge of the lower lip, and the tongue cannot reach the upper palate in the mouth;
b. The tongue is "W" shaped after sticking out.
In general, it is best observed after the age of 2 years, when the tip of the tongue begins to gradually move away from the tie, and if the ties are too short to affect the anterior extension of the tongue, or even hinder the clarity of speech, a diagnosis can be made and further treatment can be sought.
What problems does short tongue ties cause?
Difficulty breastfeeding
Babies with short tongue ties cannot wrap around the milk nucleus and have difficulty eating, which may cause pain and injury to the mother's nipples.
Unclear pronunciation
The tongue ties are too short so that the baby's upper tongue is limited and obvious, which has a certain impact on pronunciation, especially zh, ch, sh, r and other tongue curls, resulting in unclear speech and difficulty in learning language.
Tongue frenulum ulcers
The incision margin of the initially erupting lower incisor is sharper, and when sucking and extending the tongue, the tongue tie is susceptible to irritation of the lower incisor margin and causes ulceration
Other issues
Oral hygiene problems: Because it is impossible to remove food from the teeth with the tongue, it may lead to periodontal disease. The lower front teeth are separated by the tongue ties. It's difficult to lick a cones, play a musical instrument, or kiss (well, that's a bit of an early thought).
Is slurred speech caused by a short tongue tie?
Inaccurate pronunciation and incorrect pronunciation are certainly related to the short tongue tie, but this is not the only reason for inaccurate pronunciation.
There are two main reasons for inaccurate pronunciation:
First, congenital physiological defects: such as congenital cleft lip, cleft palate, missing or deformed teeth, short tongue frenulum, hearing loss, etc., resulting in inaccurate hearing and inability to imitate.
The second is caused by acquired diseases and nervous system dysfunction: for example, when a child is a child, the movement of the vocal organs is uncoordinated due to nervous system diseases, the hearing is inaccurate due to hearing impairment and cannot be correctly imitated, and the brain development disorders can cause inaccurate pronunciation.
The tongue ties are too short, generally only affect the child's inaccurate pronunciation of certain words, and will not play a major role in the overall pronunciation. It is mainly tongue curl (the tip of the tongue needs to be raised when pronounced), such as consonants such as "d, t, n, l", etc., which do not play a major role in the overall pronunciation, and will definitely not cause "not speaking" or "nothing clearly", and will not cause stuttering.
In addition, it should be noted that before the age of 3, children's vocabulary gradually increases, they are eager to use language to express their thinking, and often have inaccurate pronunciation, especially some more complex sounds, such as words containing l, r, ch pinyin. This is because they have just learned to speak, and the language center and vocal organs of the brain are not yet mature, or they are affected by the language environment in the process of learning to speak.
The tongue tie is too short, must I cut it?
Because the definition of the tongue tie is too short at present, the definition is not uniform, and the impact is not quantified. Therefore, Eggplant Oral Cloud recommends consulting a doctor first, asking a professional doctor to diagnose, and then deciding whether to do tongue frenulation surgery.
Precautions
1. Tongue tie problems should be taken to the child in time to seek medical treatment, and the doctor should judge whether surgery is needed after examination.
2. Pronunciation problems are determined by a variety of factors, whether it is caused by tongue ties or not, but also need to be identified by a doctor.
Doctors usually judge whether surgery is necessary based on the degree.
Experts emphasize that if children are found to have tongue ties at an early age, do not blindly "cut the tongue tendons" prematurely. It is best to go through the judgment of a professional or further observation, and at the same time perform the corresponding tongue exercise training or speech therapy, in fact most children do not need to be cut by this scissors.
Tongue ties are too short When is surgery best?
As your baby grows, the tongue develops. As the tongue develops, usually the tongue frenulum will gradually retreat from the tip of the tongue to the base of the tongue, so its influence on tongue activity will also be greatly weakened.
If the condition is not so severe that it affects sucking, drinking milk, and chewing, surgery does not need to be performed too early.
Premature surgery (especially at 2-6 months of age) can easily lead to scarring of surgical wounds, so some children must have a second surgery. Moreover, most of the children during the operation cannot cooperate well with the doctor, and it is easy to cause accidental injuries and infections if they are not careful. In addition, the psychological negative impact of premature surgery on the child will be more than the physical harm.
Currently, for children with too short tongue ties, the recommended time for surgery is 4-5 years old.
This is because the tongue ties gradually shift backwards as the child ages. Even if the tongue ties are too short, they can be improved by training, and most children do not develop dysfunction. Moreover, children's pronunciation is related to factors such as auditory function, language environment, intelligent development, and pronunciation degree. These factors only become more and more perfect by the age of 4. Therefore, children before the age of 4 years or younger can be observed and followed up.
Home care after transient tongue ties:
Do not brush your child's teeth on the day of the operation, it is normal to have pain within one or two days after the operation;
Eat soft food for one week after surgery and clean your mouth on time to prevent infection;
The surgery uses absorbable sutures, which will fall off on their own within 1-3 weeks, without removing the stitches, and if the sutures are still not removed after one month, they need to go to the hospital to check;
Let the child talk less during the recovery period of the wound, and eat as much as possible to avoid touching the wound;
For older children, postoperative pronunciation correction still requires a long period of training, and parents should not be too anxious.
After surgery, is it used for voice training?
If the tongue ties are diagnosed to be too short (consult a dentist), they can be corrected with simple tie orthodontics. If the child's pronunciation can be restored quickly, it does not need to be processed, and if the child has developed a bad pronunciation habit, then the child still needs to be trained in language ability.
To summarize:
Whether to cut the baby's tongue tie should be treated as soon as the abnormality is found, and the doctor should examine it to decide whether surgery is needed and when.
In addition, the corresponding tongue exercise training or speech therapy is also essential.