Tongue Tie Specialist at our Chelsea Clinic
Some children adapt around a tongue tie so well that it goes unnoticed, until it shows up in their speech, eating, breathing or sleep. We look at how your child’s tongue functions and whether a release, together with myofunctional therapy, could help.
Signs to look out for:
- Unclear speech or difficulty with certain sounds
- Slow or fussy eating
- Mouth breathing
- Snoring or restless sleep
- Difficulty sticking the tongue out or licking an ice cream
Tongue or lip tie can often be an underlying cause of these issues.
See more about myofunctional therapy here
Frenectomy process at Happy Kids Dental
1
Initial Consultation
Your clinician will assess tongue and lip function for speech, eating, breathing and sleep. Where helpful, we’ll plan myofunctional therapy before and after any release.
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. We explain everything to your child in a calm, child-friendly way, 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)
Your child will do stretches and tongue exercises at home, and we’ll show you both how. Myofunctional therapy helps the new range of movement become an everyday habit.
4
Review (at 7 and 14 days)
We’ll see your child at 7 and 14 days to check healing and review changes in speech, eating and sleep.
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