A Dentist’s Part in Ankyloglossia
Ankyloglossia, which is commonly referred to as being tongue tied, is a condition in which lingual frenula is short. This condition present at birth and can cause a number of issues as a child grows. Seeing the dentist early on in baby’s life can often detect this condition early enough to counteract some of the affiliated side effects.
The definition of being tongue tied,
contrary to the popular trite use of the term to describe a shy child or a situation in which a speaker cannot not articulate the right words for a conversation, is simply that the lingual frenula, which is the flap of skin that attaches the tongue to the bottom of the mouth is short. The range of motion of the tongue should allow a child to touch his tongue to the roof of his mouth. It should also allow a child to stick out his tongue past his lips, and while the tongue is an organ that grows as a person grows, this condition needs to be dealt with in childhood as it affects many aspects of growing to be healthy adult.
Because of how the frenula is typically attached to between the tongue and the bottom of the mouth, it is sometimes noticeable a baby cries, exposing the entire inside of the mouth, that there is a difference in the way the tongue rests as compared to other children.
It may be hard to identify or to put your finger on just what exactly it is that looks different, but you will notice a difference nonetheless. Other indicators are the aforementioned inabilities to graze the roof of the mouth with the tongue and to stick the tongue out past the lips. Upon birth, if a child is having trouble sucking, this may also be an indicator that the tongue needs to be checked for such abnormalities.
Ankyloglossia has an effect on a number of issues. As previously mentioned the tongue’s decreased range often interferes with sucking abilities in an infant. This make both breast feeding and bottle feeding difficult, and a baby can experience failure to thrive as sucking is imperative to a baby’s will to live. Even if the child seems to be obtaining enough nutrition to sustain life, if a baby seems to have trouble self-comforting through techniques like thumb or pacifier sucking, it is advised that a dentist or pediatrician be consulted in order to check the range of the frenula.
A tongue with a limited range of motion also fails in aiding is eating as the child grows older. The tongue is used to clean the teeth, to sweep food particles down for digestion, to swallow, and for non–eating activities that involve oral motor activities such as texture exploration and other learning activities. Speech is also known to be delayed in those children who are deemed tongue tied because the condition limits the motion of the tongue, some linguistic functions are hindered.
