Tounge Tied

[Dr. Shane]

We just discovered that our 4 year old son is tounge-tied. He does not speak very much and only says a couple of sentences. Now we know why.

Since we don't have health insurance we go to Mexico. So we will go down next Friday and see about getting his tongue cut free. Does anyone know anything about this?

[Nan]

I dont know a lot about it in older children, Shane, but in new borns it is a very simple procedure. Just literally a quick snip (by someone who knows of course). I hope you can find a suitable practitioner for your child. Did he have any problems feeding when he was very young? Often sucking is impeded with the condition.

[Pockey]

For tongue-tie or ankyloglossia, generally an ENT (ear, nose, and throat or otolaryngologist) does the procedure, which is called a frenuloplasty. It's a relatively straightforward procedure if done by someone who has experience with this. There are several things to consider. Like Nan mentioned, in infants it can be done quickly. Also in older children and adults, it can be done relatively quickly with local anesthesia. However your son is 4, so that might be a problem since 4 year olds tend to not lie still. Do you think he'll be able to lay still? If not, he might need some type of sedation (either conscious sedation, or a last resort would be general anesthesia). So definitely you'll need to find someone that 1) has experience with performing a frenuloplasty 2) is prepared to provide some type of sedation if needed, and is experienced and equipped to handle the sedation. I will be praying that you will find the right person for this. One suggestion may be to contact a local ENT physician and let them know your situation. They may be able to give you a quote and work a deal out with you if you're paying cash, because they won't have to deal with insurance hassles, and insurance never reimburses fully, thus the cost should be lower. Since it's not an emergency per se, perhaps a county clinic/hospital would be worth investigating? It may take awhile to get an appointment but it may be worth the wait. Also, I don't know if this will help, but this link is for free clinics in Texas:

http://www.uniteforsight.org/freeclinics.php?state=texas#state

I'll be praying, I know He will take care your son.

[Taylor]

For what it's worth, I think it is relatively easy to fix. When I was a child, one of my playmates had this problem and they fixed it surgically. I saw him last when he was a teenager and he spoke perfectly normal, and had no speech therapy either.

I'll be praying for you and your family!

[Naomi]

Shane,

I have known a couple of children whe were tounge tied, but after having the surgery were fine.

Will be praying for your son and your family.

FWIW, as the story goes, I was almost 4 years old and only said a few words, "Mommy, Daddy, See and Bye"

My parents finally made an appointment with a "City" Doctor. The morning of the appointment as they were discussing details of taking me for my appointment. With no encouragement, I spoke my first sentence. "Let's go down to the hospital barn and see the little baby calves." We lived on a dairy farm, and now, I loved the animals and being outdoors.

We did not make the drive to see the Dr. and, people tell me I still haven't stopped talking! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Moral of the story: Be prepared, when his tounge is set free, he may never stop talking! LOL

Naomi

[Dr. Shane]

I checked with our family doctor today and she told me that in Mexico, dentists perform the operation. A couple blocks from our her office there is a dentist that use to be our neighbor. (She is a dentist in Mexico but lives here in Texas) So I went and talked to her. She said she has an oral surgeon that will come to her office and do it. She is going to get me a quote and said she expects it to cost between $150 and $300.

[Naomi]

Shane, that's great news. Will be praying for good results.

[Dr. Shane]

Alex had the surgey today. He let them give him a local anestetic without a problem but started fighting when the doctor put the knife in his mouth. It was pretty tough. The doctor decided not to do stitches because Alex wasn't cooperating.

He did say that it had to be done or Alex would never be able to talk normal. He charged me $250 and the rx cost me $10. At least I had the money to get it done. Now we have to fight with him for 5 days to take his antibiotic <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

[Jeannieb43]

Put the antibiotic into a spoonful of applesauce. Or divide each dose into two spoonfuls if necessary. If the antibiotic is in tablet form, cut it into quarters first. If the antibiotic is in capsule form, empty the little pellets out into the applesauce, taking care not to lose any of them.

P.S. I myself was tongue-tied at birth. My frenulum was clipped before I was two days old. I don't recall a bit of it! My only remaining problem from it is that I can't stick my tongue out as far as everybody else can!

[GreatLakesGramma]

Sorry I wasn't here to see this sooner.

All 3 of our children were tongue tied. Two of them, our daughter and the firstborn of our twin sons, had it bad enough that their doctors saw it at their 6 week checkups and took care of it with a little snip of the scissors.

The second-born twin apparently didn't have it quite so badly, but had impaired speech for years, until I finally quit listening to all the people who said "he'll get over it as he gets older." I took him to an ENT for surgery at the age of 8, and he needed a year and a half of speech therapy to learn to pronounce the sounds he couldn't make before. Currently 20 years of age, if you were aware of his past and carefully listened to him talk, you would notice a remnant of that speech impediment, but most people don't hear anything out of the ordinary.

He had the surgery in the doctor's office, with local anesthesia only. They had given me the option of taking him into the hospital and putting him out completely, but we have never had insurance, so chose the outpatient route. He was fine with it, and never made a peep. But when I took him back for his follow-up visit, we heard a child screaming and screaming. The nurse said that child was having the same surgery, and that was the reason they usually do it in the hospital. The child was not in pain, he/she was terrified.

This doctor did not use a knife, and no stitches or antibiotics were needed. He used a cauterizing instrument and burned away the excess tissue.