Tongue Tie Specialist at our Chelsea Clinic
A tongue or lip tie can affect more than feeding. As babies move on to solid food, sleep longer and start to talk, restricted tongue movement can show up in new ways. We assess how your child’s tongue and lips work, not just how they look.
If appropriate, this is followed by an appointment with the doctor, who will be performing the procedure, to discuss the findings and talk through the procedure and next steps.
Signs to look out for:
- Difficulty moving on to lumpy or solid foods
- Gagging or choking on food
- Very slow or messy eating
- Snoring or noisy breathing
- Mouth breathing
- Restless sleep
- Early speech sounds that are hard to understand
Tongue or lip tie can often be an underlying cause of these issues.
Frenectomy process at Happy Kids Dental
1
Initial Consultation
Before your visit we’ll send you an information pack and our nurse will call to answer any questions. Your clinician will assess how your child’s tongue and lips work for eating, drinking, sleep and early speech, and advise whether a release would help.
Consultation - Dr Suraj Vatish £225
2
Treatment (same day, if you choose)
If a release is recommended, it can usually be carried out on the same day after a short break. We use a numbing gel and our nurse is present throughout.
One release (tongue OR lip) – Dr Suraj Vatish £415
Two releases (tongue AND lip) – Dr Suraj Vatish £520
3
Aftercare (at-home exercises)
We’ll show you simple stretches and playful tongue exercises to do at home, and let you know if myofunctional therapy or other support would help.
4
Review (at 7 and 14 days)
We’ll see your child at 7 and 14 days to check healing and review changes in eating, sleep and speech.
Follow up – £115
How Does Tongue Tie Surgery (Frenectomy) Work?
More and more, parents are opting for a safe, fast-healing laser frenectomy.
Rather than using scissors, we use a laser for all of our frenectomies at Happy Kids Dental because we believe the laser has superior healing properties.
At Happy Kids Dental we use the latest generation of technology - The Epic™ X Laser, developed by Biolase.
This is a CO2 laser and is recognized worldwide as the best method for tongue tie and lip tie treatment.
There are multiple benefits to using this laser:
- Efficiency; the procedure takes less than 30 mins and no stitches are necessary.
- A diode laser works with light energy so there is very little discomfort - there is almost no bleeding and some babies and children sleep through the procedure.
- The laser sterilizes upon touch, therefore the risk of infection is minimal, if any.
- Healing occurs quicker and without complications - the result is healthy, well-healed tissue with less chance of reattachment (relapse).
At Happy Kids Dental we use a topical numbing gel during frenectomy to keep your baby as comfortable as possible.
We know our procedure is superior to those carried out with scissors.
We often see babies who had tongue tie releases carried out by other practitioners, with less amount of experience and qualifications. A lot of releases that we see and correct were done only partially and mothers did not see much improvement.
We offer full release and guarantee our results.
Benefits of laser tongue tie procedure
We have asked Camilla Oates to answer a few questions about the Tongue Tie procedure
Camilla (BSc, M.Ost, DPO) is an experienced osteopath, working at Kane&Ross osteopathy specialists. She holds a Masters in Osteopathy, an Honours Degree in Biomedical Science, Postgraduate Certificate in Paediatric Osteopathy and treats babies, children and pregnant women.
How do you diagnose a Tongue Tie?
Should you get your baby's tongue tie cut?
Caring for your baby after a tongue-tie release
Tongue Tie - Q&A
- The tip of your baby’s tongue looks notched or heart-shaped when they stick it out.
- They have difficulty sticking their tongue out.
- The tip of your baby’s tongue can’t reach the roof of their mouth or further than the edge of their lower lip.
- They have difficulty moving their tongue from side to side.
- Trouble latching on or staying attached to your breast
- Feeding for a long time, having a short break, then feeding again
- Being unsettled and seeming hungry all the time
- Failing to gain weight as quickly as they should
- Making a “clicking” sound when feeding
- Excessive gassiness
- Excessive drooling
- Poor weight gain
- Taking a long time to feed
- Excessive gassiness
A tongue tie can sometimes cause problems such as speech difficulties, difficulty eating certain foods and difficulty cleaning teeth. Some other problems are appearance-related, such as a wide gap between the bottom two front teeth, or a V-shaped notch in the end of the tongue.
Check with a speech and language therapist if more than half of a three-year-old child’s speech is not understood by people outside of the family, or if the child has difficulty licking an ice cream cone.
It is possible that latching will be a struggle at first, since we would use a small amount of anaesthetic to complete the procedure. The numbness will wear off about 30-45 minutes afterwards, so do not be alarmed if latching is difficult at first.
Tongue ties can vary in severity and can include what we call a “posterior tongue tie”, which may require a few weeks of practice before you see the benefits of the frenectomy.
We recommend to be thorough with the prescribed post-treatment exercises and to work with a lactation consultant and an osteopath to achieve optimal results and avoid reattachment.
Is your child’s lingual tongue tie or lip tie causing discomfort, or limiting their ability to eat, speak or swallow? Complete the form or call us to arrange your appointment.
- Tongue-tie typically affects boys more often than girls.
- Tongue-tie is not the only reason for breastfeeding difficulty.
- Sometimes tongue-tie does not cause speech delay, but can affect a child’s speech articulation - the ability to form sounds and pronounce words.
- Tongue-tie diagnoses are increasing as breastfeeding becomes more commonplace.
Please book online here
Newborn tongue tie consultation