home › Tests › At what age is the bridle cut. Trimming the short frenulum of the tongue in a child

At what age is the bridle cut. Trimming the short frenulum of the tongue in a child

The tongue is attached at the bottom of the mouth by a very thin septum (bridle). Normally, it should reach the middle of the tongue. But, if it is attached closer to its tip, the child may have certain problems with eating and speaking. This pathology is called ankyloglossia and, if present, measures must be taken to restore the normal size of the frenulum.

A short frenulum is usually a hereditary defect. However, this does not mean at all that its cutting is necessary for all children with such a pathology. Only a specialist can decide on the appropriateness of the operation, or special exercises and massage will be enough. If surgery cannot be avoided, it will be carried out quickly and almost painlessly.

But, when the bridle is cut at the child's tongue, at what age? Why is surgery needed and what surgical techniques exist? Let's talk about it today on the site "Popular about health":

Indications for surgery

Ankyloglossia can cause two important problems: with suckling milk (in infants) and language development (in older children). In addition, the child may develop an incorrect bite.

In the first case, the problem is detected in the first months of life, and the pediatrician makes a decision about the need to cut a thin partition already at this age.

In the second case, the pathology is detected when the child has problems with speech due to the language. Here the decision on the advisability of cutting is made by a speech therapist. In many cases, the problem can be solved by conservative methods.

When forming a malocclusion, the problem will be indicated by the orthodontist, to whom you will bring the child for an appointment. Well, the operation itself will be performed by a pediatric dentist surgeon.

At what age is the thin septum trimmed off the tongue??

The optimal age for the operation is from the first days of life, up to a year. The earlier the better. In newborns, for example, the bridle is shortened right in the hospital.

If, for some reason, this was not done, it is better to have the operation when the child is 5-6 years old. This is the period of speech formation, when many defects are revealed, including this one. At this age, the doctor decides whether to perform surgery or conservative treatment.

But, you need to understand that by this age the frenulum in children is already overgrown with blood vessels, so the operation takes longer than in infants and is performed under anesthesia. Hospitalization is not required - immediately after the end of the procedures with the bridle, the child is allowed to go home.

Available contraindications

In some cases, it is impossible to perform an operation to eliminate ankyloglossia. In particular, contraindications are:

The presence of malignant neoplasms;
- hematological pathologies;
- acute infectious diseases;
- inflammation of the oral mucosa, various diseases of the oral cavity.

Methods of surgical treatment

Surgical intervention:

There are several techniques for cutting the bridle. Let's list them briefly:

Frenulotomy

This technique is used when the baby is not yet 9 months old. The incision is made with surgical scissors, closer to the teeth. First, the mucous tissue is dissected, then the muscle tissue. Then sutures are applied.

frenulectomy

With this method, the septum is first fixed with a special clamp, after which an incision is made between it and the lip. After that, sutures are applied.

Frenuloplasty

When carrying out this technique, tissue is excised from the jumper in the form of a triangle. After that, an incision is made and the excised tissue is sewn to the desired area in order to form the required length of the frenulum.

The last two methods are used for surgical treatment of children older than 5 years. Although frenuloplasty is performed very rarely, only in the presence of very serious orthodontic defects.

After the operation, healing lasts about a day. Doctors advise during this period not to give children too hot or cold food, and also pay more attention to the thoroughness of oral hygiene procedures.

Treatment with a laser

This direction is an important achievement of dentistry. Laser technique is a modern method of treatment that children can easily tolerate. At the same time, the risk of side effects is minimal.

Cutting a thin septum near the tongue in this way has undeniable advantages over surgical intervention, namely:

Minimal risk of infection during manipulation (the laser beam has disinfectant properties);
- no risk of bleeding (the laser seals the vessels);
- no sutures are required;
- there are no painful sensations;
- the wound heals quickly.

Both the surgical method of treatment and the laser technique are very effective. Each has its supporters and opponents. However, the choice always remains with the parents. The price of both operations is not much different. You should consult with your doctor to choose the most appropriate treatment for your child.

In conclusion of our conversation, it should be noted that it is not worth postponing the treatment of ankyloglossia. After all, the longer this problem is not solved, the more serious complications can be in the future and the more difficult it will be to eliminate them. If you can do without surgery, the doctor will prescribe conservative treatment. Be healthy!

Cutting the frenulum under the tongue in children is a fairly common and uncomplicated procedure. A bridge, called a frenulum, is located at the bottom of the jaw, helping to hold the tongue. This allows a person to control it, eat, speak and breathe. The frenulum of the tongue is located from the beginning to the middle of the inner side of this organ, passes through the mucous membrane to the very base of the gums of the lower incisors.

Sometimes there is a pathology that has a congenital character, which is called ankyloglossia. The bottom line is that the frenulum of the tongue may be too short or lie incorrectly. The fold can significantly limit the mobility of the tongue, which delays the development of the jaw, causes speech disorders, an abnormal bite is formed, and severe discomfort appears in the mouth.

The reasons for this phenomenon may be such factors:

the formation of pathology during pregnancy;
genetic and hereditary predisposition.

Genetics plays a primary role, since pathology manifests itself simultaneously in children and adults. Therefore, it is necessary for the child, his mother or father to correct, that is, to cut the frenulum of the tongue.

Usually, the need for such a procedure is determined by the dentist, to which the parents take the child. The doctor's arguments must be taken into account, although many doubt why cutting is done, and ask questions about what complications this can cause, what are the features of the operation.

malocclusion,
speech problems,
nutritional disorders.

If the pathology was found in a newborn, then cutting off the frenulum under the tongue helps to restore the sucking function. The sooner it is done, the better. As a result of surgery, the baby gets a chance to feed on mother's milk, suck on a pacifier. A short bridle prevents the child from doing the following:

take mother's breast;
use bottle-feeding with a pacifier.

The cause of this dysfunction is a short frenulum of the tongue, although sometimes this is also characteristic of the lips. Pathology is much less common, but quite possible. If a defect is found in a newborn, the operation is less painful than in older ones. There are no nerves or blood vessels in the frenulum, so the manipulation will take several minutes. If this is not done, then the parents will face other problems.

At what age can you do it?

Much more often, the bridle is cut for children aged 6 to 8 years, in the area of the upper lip. At this time, the baby teeth begin to fall out, and the molars appear in their place. And if the cutting of the frenulum of the tongue in newborns was not carried out in the first days of life, then the procedure can be carried out only in the indicated age period.

The frenulum of the upper lip causes a problem with the pronunciation of sounds, but not all, but only some. The jumper can pull the gum, so the effect of the diastema develops, that is, a gap is formed between the teeth. This results in malocclusion or periodontal disease.

You can also cut the frenulum under the tongue in the area of the lower lip. This defect develops much less frequently than others. It affects how the child pronounces sounds, how his bite is formed. It also causes the development of the diastema. In both the first and second cases, the dentist recommends agreeing to the procedure.

How the operation is carried out

Cutting the frenulum of the tongue in children: which tool to choose? Intervention is carried out in several ways: usually with a laser or a scalpel. Before cutting the frenulum under the tongue, determine the complexity of the pathology, the area of its location, the age of the patient.

The operation with a scalpel involves the removal of a defect using local anesthesia. The procedure takes about half an hour. After the injection of an anesthetic substance, the doctor makes an incision, and then stitches. Sometimes there is some bleeding.

The process of cutting the frenulum of the tongue with a scalpel.

Over the next 7-10 days, the child will experience swelling, discomfort, soreness, but not very strong. The scar that forms after the operation will heal for almost 10 days. Further, its resorption will begin, and gradually the scar will disappear completely. For some time it is impossible to eat solid food, and the mouth, as a preventive measure, must be rinsed with a special solution.

If a laser is used, then the operation lasts about 12 minutes. Pain and blood are usually not observed, since the incision is made using a beam of light. The beam allows you to solder the vessels, so bleeding does not occur. There are no stitches at all. Anesthesia is local, but not with medicine, but with a special dental gel or spray. The video below shows the complete process using a laser:

The incision site heals very quickly, already on the second day swelling and pain disappear. Therefore, the baby has a chance to continue to do their own thing, play with other children.

Similar operations are carried out in dental offices, although babies can be done in the hospital. Painkillers are not administered to newborns, only a transverse incision is made, the blood stops by itself if the baby is attached to the chest.

The procedure is carried out not by a dentist, but by a surgeon, to whom a child can be referred: an orthodontist, speech therapist or dentist. As a result, the tongue becomes loose, while bite and pronunciation must be treated separately.

Correction of ankyloglossia is carried out for children from the age of 5 years. This operation is called frenuloplasty, it is carried out in three different ways:

Firstly, removal, when the doctor clamps the frenulum with an instrument, and then makes an incision in two places - at the bottom and at the top. This forms a triangle, the edges of which the physician sews together.
Secondly, cut, that is, cut the folds on the sides. It is believed that this is a simple method of eliminating pathology. The edges are sewn together, as if pulled together by transverse seams, but for this you need to deeply grab the fabrics.
Third, move the attachment point. The essence of this approach is to make two incisions, separating a strip of tissue between the fold of the transition and the interdental papillae. The edges are sutured, and the strip is attached to another part of the wound.

Plastic surgery of the frenulum of the tongue in children is a simple method that allows you to avoid many unpleasant developmental disorders.

The tongue is an amazing organ. A newborn baby begins to use it literally immediately after birth, when it sticks to the mother's breast. Later, thanks to the language, the baby begins to walk, and closer to a year, even pronounce individual words.

But there are situations when a small frenulum attached to the tongue creates big problems for the normal growth and development of the newborn. If during the examination it turned out that it is really short, the doctor may suggest cutting the frenulum. What is this procedure and what are the indications for it? Let's find out.

Difficulties associated with a short bridle

Every person has a bridle in his mouth. In appearance, these are thin folds of the mucous membrane connecting the moving parts of the oral cavity (lips and tongue) with the fixed ones (gums and space under the tongue). There are three of them: one is located directly under the tongue, the other two are connected to the upper and lower lip, respectively.

When talking about a shortened bridle, they mean either its short length or its incorrect location (the length is normal, but locally it is attached so that it keeps the tongue “on a short leash”). In medicine, the defect is called ankyloglossia or congenital cord pathology.

The first difficulty is that the correct process of grasping and sucking the breast is disturbed. After all, normally, during attachment to the breast, the baby's mouth is wide open, so that the lower lip turns outward, and the tongue itself is located on the gum of the lower jaw. As a result, the areola of the nipple is completely captured, the necessary vacuum is created, and the tongue begins to work.

A short bridle does not allow you to properly capture the nipple, and in the process of eating, the baby quickly gets tired. Throwing the breast ahead of time, he does not receive proper nutrition, gains weight worse, is restless during feeding and requires frequent attachments.

Too much time at the breast and weight loss suggest that you need to consult not only with a breastfeeding specialist, but also with a pediatric dentist.

Another problem becomes apparent closer to the 2nd year, when the child has speech disorders. The kid cannot pronounce individual sounds and you have to work hard to eliminate such defects. A shortened frenulum of the lower lip provokes the formation of a malocclusion.

Causes and symptoms

A short fold is formed during fetal development in the presence of pregnancy pathologies. However, most often its small size is explained by a genetic predisposition. That is, when the next of kin had similar problems, the likelihood of frenulum correction in the heir increases.

Symptoms that may suggest that something is wrong with the sublingual fold are as follows:

the child “hangs” at the chest for more than 30 minutes, but does not eat up;
gaining weight poorly;
the baby smacks while eating, bites the nipple with his gums or cannot keep it in his mouth for a long time;
often burps, he is tormented by flatulence (a consequence of air ingress);
milk in the breast stagnates.

At an older age, ankyloglossia causes such problems:

speech defects;
formation of malocclusion;
early occurrence of caries (in case of a defect in the frenulum above the upper or lower lip);
the formation of a crooked dentition;
profuse salivation;
sleep difficulties, sleep apnea.

Diagnostics

The hyoid frenulum is easy to check. Normally, it is attached somewhere in the middle between the root and the tip of the tongue, and its length is at least 8 mm. Professor Alison Hazelbaker developed a special test that takes into account the ability of the tongue to stretch forward, rise to the upper palate, turn in different directions, evaluate the sucking reflex, how elastic the frenulum is, etc.

Based on specially designed tests, the doctor determines if ankyloglossia is present.

Visually, with ankyloglossia, the tongue takes on the shape of a heart due to a fold pulling from below. This is clearly seen during crying. If you show your baby your tongue, he will not be able to copy you and do the same.

Cut or stretch?

If the defect under discussion is diagnosed, there are two ways to eliminate it:

try to stretch the bridle with the help of special exercises;
cut her.

In fairness, it should be said that you can do without surgical intervention and try to stretch only the hyoid frenulum, provided that the child is already able to independently perform the necessary exercises under the supervision of an adult. The stretching technique is usually shown by a speech therapist, and the exercises are done at least twice a day for several months.

With ankyloglossia, the child will not be able to do this

However, such procedures are not suitable for a newborn. And if we are talking about the possibility of further normal breastfeeding, it is better to agree to cutting. As we will see below, such an operation does not bear any negative health consequences.

When to cut?

How do you know when is the best time to cut the bridle? If the problem was noticed immediately after birth, the pruning will be offered to be done right at the maternity hospital in order to forget about further unpleasant consequences once and for all.

If the child is more than 9 months old, then there were no difficulties with nutrition, and the bridle did not bring any particular inconvenience. Therefore, it makes sense to wait until the child speaks. Perhaps the frenulum of the tongue will not affect the speech ability of the baby, or it will stretch. In principle, correction with surgery can be carried out at any age. Only the older the patient, the greater the likelihood that it will be necessary to apply anesthesia (though in the vast majority of cases, local) and stitches.

In addition, at school age, when a speech therapist or orthodontist sends a surgeon for pruning, the operation will “free” the tongue only mechanically, but it remains to be learned how to use it correctly. An operation at the age of 6 does not guarantee that the child will stop lisping, as pronunciation skills have already been firmly established. Correcting a crooked dentition will also take time.

As for the trimming of the fold on the lower lip, it is advised to carry it out from the age of 4, and on the upper one - not earlier than reaching the age of 6. The frenulum of the tongue is in most cases trimmed in infants under one year old.

How is pruning

The operation to cut the frenulum of the tongue is called a frenotomy. It is performed by a pediatric surgeon or dental surgeon. The child's face is fixed, after which cutting is carried out with special scissors or a laser. In infancy, the procedure is painless, since the nerve endings in the gingival mucosa have not yet formed. After the bridle has been cut, the child is recommended to be immediately attached to the chest.

Even if the baby is crying, know that this is not because he is in pain. It's just that no one is pleased when for some reason they hold their faces tightly and climb into their mouths, and even under the light of a lamp. The procedure itself lasts a matter of seconds - nothing compared to the relief that the baby then experiences.

The bridle is cut quickly. Anesthesia is either not used at all or is used topically in the form of an aerosol or injection

There are two more ways of surgical treatment:

frenectomy - when the frenulum is excised almost completely;
frenuloplasty - an operation due to which the place of fastening of the fold in the oral cavity changes.

Special postoperative care is not required. The blood vessels are still deep, so a few drops of blood are all the consequences. However, over the next week, scar formation occurs, and the uvula must move to avoid regrowth. The doctor will show special exercises for its promotion.

If the child has broken the bridle

Little fidgets are often in search of adventure, sometimes unsafe. What to do if, having fallen, the baby cut the frenulum in his mouth? Of course, you should immediately seek medical help, especially in cases where it is constantly bleeding, it hurts the child to talk or eat, the soft tissues in the oral cavity are swollen.

The doctor will decide if the tear needs to be stitched up and tell you how to care for the wound. Do not try to treat the baby yourself. With improper fusion, rough scars are formed, which negatively affects the formation of bite and articulation.

Summarize. Too short frenulum of the tongue directly affects the quality of life of the child. Cut it or not - you decide, dear parents. Just do not reject the opinions of doctors on this matter. After all, sometimes you need to make small sacrifices in order to save your baby from the physical and emotional problems associated with speech defects in the future.

Dear parents, today we will talk about how to determine the short frenulum of the tongue in a baby. In this article, you will learn by what main signs you can suspect a similar condition, why this happens, what are the methods of treatment. You will know what age is considered optimal for the surgical procedure, as well as what are the contraindications to such therapy.

Short bridle - what is it

This formation, upon visual inspection, resembles a thin membrane, represented by connective tissue. The main function is to attach the tongue to the oral cavity (lower part). A short frenulum of the tongue in a child is a condition that makes it difficult for the movement of the fleshy organ.

It may be congenital or hereditary. Consider partial and complete form. With full - there is the formation of muscles (strands), the tongue is actually immobilized, very poor pronunciation. Partial - connective tissue is replaced by muscle cords.

There are three degrees of functional limitation of the fleshy organ:

light - the size is more than 15 mm, there is a violation in sound pronunciation;
medium - frenulum from 10 to 15 mm, accompanied by a violation of pronunciation, the inability to reach the sky with the tongue;
severe - up to 10 mm long, the baby is not able to lick his lips, cannot pronounce sounds correctly, touch the palate with his tongue, stick out his tongue.

Possible reasons

Hereditary factor - a possible cause of a short frenulum in a child

There are a number of factors that affect the formation of shortening of the frenulum:

heredity;
bad ecology;
infection of the fetus during gestation;
injury to the abdomen of a pregnant woman;
factors of unknown etiology;
infectious processes in the body of the expectant mother;
the woman's age is over 35 years.

Symptoms

The formation of a malocclusion can be observed due to a short frenulum

The characteristic signs of the presence of a short frenulum include:

increased salivation;
digestive problems;
difficulty chewing solid food;
a quiet voice with a nasal tone;
frequent;
malocclusion;
gum recession;
periodontitis;
dyslalia (organic type);
incisors on the lower jaw tilt inward.

Signs in babies

Difficulty breastfeeding may be the first warning sign

The following manifestations may indicate that your little one has a short bridle:

the baby bites the breast while sucking;
smacking while feeding;
prolonged act of sucking;
frequent feeling of hunger;
capriciousness when feeding.

Home diagnostic method

To determine a short or long frenulum in a baby, you need to ask him to perform certain actions.

Let the little one show you his tongue. With a short bridle, it will be difficult for the child to remove it completely from the mouth, or the edge of the tongue will be tilted down.
Let the baby raise his tongue to the sky. If there is a deviation, the child will either not reach at all or the sides of the tongue will rise, the central one is practically inactive.

In addition, you can visually determine whether the frenulum is normal or not. So, normally, in a newborn baby, the bridle is longer than 8 mm, and in a five-year-old baby, it is longer than 17 mm.

Where to go

If you are interested in the question of where to cut the frenulum of the child's tongue, then the answer to it is simple - in a dental clinic. The procedure will be performed by a surgeon, but before you decide to take this step, you need to consult with several specialists:

at the pediatrician - with problems with eating;
at a speech therapist - if there are difficulties in pronunciation;
at the orthodontist - if there is a development of malocclusion.

Treatment

Lessons with a speech therapist
an effective method for a mild degree of a short frenulum

Therapy can be both pharmacological and non-pharmacological type. Everything will depend on the severity of the child's condition.

Non-drug methods include:

massage;
classes with a speech therapist;
correction exercises;
articulation gymnastics.

Medical therapy involves surgery. It can be of varying degrees:

light - will be carried out directly at the reception and without anesthesia in cases where the hyoid membrane is plastic and very thin;
frenulotomy - a child with a thick frenulum will be performed under local anesthesia, stitches will be applied.

You need to know that the operation can be complicated:

prolonged bleeding;
wound infection.

Correction exercises

Exercise in front of a mirror

Ask the child to stick out his tongue and try to touch the tip of his nose, then his chin. Take a break and take another set. At first, the exercise should be repeated no more than five times, eventually brought to 20.
Let the baby stick out his tongue and begin to move it to the left, then to the right. Initially five approaches, brought to 20.
We ask the little one to open his mouth wide. Let him touch the tip of his tongue to the upper incisors, try to press on the teeth with all his might. It is important that the mouth remains open. Each time the child should count to ten (to himself). We also start small and work our way up to 20.
We spend in front of the mirror. Let the little one open his mouth wide and follow the movements of his tongue while pronouncing the syllables “kar - kar - kar”, “bar - bar - bar”.
Ask the child to lick his lips, first the top, then the bottom.
Let the baby close his mouth and move his tongue in one direction or the other. With all his strength, he will press on the inside of the cheeks with the tip of the tongue.
To achieve a good and quick effect, you need to exercise daily for 15 minutes.
If the correction is prescribed after the operation, then they begin only after the wound has healed.

Operation

The procedure is performed under local anesthesia.

The operation is prescribed if there is a severe degree, in the case of moderate severity - the doctor himself makes a decision, with a mild degree - the treatment is carried out by conservative methods, in particular, speech therapy and classes with a speech therapist.

Indications for surgical intervention will be:

severe limitation in the mobility of the tongue;
the average severity of the disease in the absence of positive results from therapeutic treatment;
lack of monthly weight gain;
development of malocclusion;
the inability to capture the nipple during feeding;
the process of formation of a displaced dentition;
the need for the installation of dentures, including removable ones.

It should be borne in mind that the operation may have certain contraindications. These include:

infectious processes in the oral cavity;
oncology;
blood diseases;
gingivitis;
stomatitis;
infectious process in the body of an acute course.

Depending on the age of the child, one of three types of surgery can be prescribed:

frenulotomy (can be carried out for children up to nine months old) - the incision is made with scissors closer to the teeth, the mucous membrane is initially dissected, then the muscle cords are sutured;
frenulectomy (make a child from five years old) - the septum is fixed with a clamp, an incision is made between it and the lip, stitches are applied;
frenuloplasty (applicable for children over five years old) - a triangular flap is truncated from the jumper, then an incision is made and this flap is sewn in the right place in order to lengthen the frenulum.

My son had his frenulum cut at the age of 7 months. I was not present at the procedure, I was very worried. His father and grandmother went with him. Everything went without complications, and the child quickly recovered.

laser treatment

Laser method of the operation

In recent years, the method of cutting the frenulum using a laser has been increasingly used. This method has a number of advantages:

practically painless;
there is no need for suturing;
the incision is made accurately;
wounds heal quickly;
minimum consequences or their complete absence;
disinfectant properties prevent infection;
no bleeding during surgery.

Optimal age

The sooner the operation is performed, the less painful it will be for the child.

If you are wondering at what age the child's frenulum of the tongue is cut - with early detection in the first month of life, even in the maternity hospital. The best time is the first year of a baby's life. However, it is not uncommon for parents not to notice the problem and realize that something has gone wrong when pronunciation problems arise at the age of five. At this time, a longer operation will be performed under anesthesia.

Now you know how the procedure is carried out. Remember that the lack of timely treatment can lead to problems with speech, the development of pathology. No matter how sorry the baby is, if there is an urgent need, go for an operation.

Humans have a frenulum in their mouths. Despite the fact that it is a thin fold located from the beginning to the middle of the tongue on its inner side, many functions are assigned to it. She is not only responsible for keeping the tongue in the right position, but also provides control over it. Thanks to the bridle, a person is able to eat, swallow and even breathe.

Sometimes she has problems. Too short or incorrectly positioned bridle can cause many unpleasant consequences. The way out of the situation is often to cut it. This is a simple and common procedure.

Short frenulum of the tongue: types and difficulties that arise

With normal development, the frenulum is localized practically from the gums of the central dental units of the lower row to the middle of the tongue in the lower plane. It happens that there are deviations from the norm, and then they talk about its shortening. Under such a diagnosis, two situations are considered:

The length of the bridle itself is less than it should be.
Wrong location. That is, the absolute length of the frenulum remains normal, but due to the fact that it is not located where it should, there is a symptomatology similar to the first option.

The problem can cause discomfort and cause various complications. Due to a short bridle, babies are not able to properly take the breast. With a lot of effort, the baby quickly gets tired and does not receive the required amount of breast milk.

In older children, a shortened frenulum can cause problems with tooth formation. If the upper frenulum is short, the formation of large gaps between the incisors and their sharp forward movement is possible. If the lower frenulum is shortened, an incorrect bite is formed.

Another complication that provokes pathology is a speech disorder. Children cannot pronounce certain sounds. It can be difficult to fix these defects.

Solving the problem of a short bridle

This article talks about typical ways to solve your questions, but each case is unique! If you want to know from me how to solve exactly your problem - ask your question. It's fast and free!

Now there are two ways to correct the frenulum:

conservative method. It consists in stretching the bridle with exercises. Such a gymnastic complex is taught by a speech therapist. Exercises will give a positive effect if they are performed correctly and regularly for several months. This approach, due to anatomical features, is applicable exclusively to the frenulum under the tongue.
Plastic frenulum of the tongue. This operating method is reduced to cutting the frenulum. Correction is carried out regardless of age, both in adults and in newborns, infants and children of preschool and primary school age. If a short frenulum does not affect the formation of bite, pronunciation of sounds and does not cause other problems, surgery and plastics can be dispensed with.

Conservative treatment: frenulum stretching exercises (video)

Conservative treatment includes a set of exercises and a special massage prescribed by a doctor. Before performing gymnastics, it is recommended to perform a preliminary massage that helps stretch the soft tissues.

To this end, you should:

gently move the tongue by the tip up, to the sides and forward;
stroke the bridle from the bottom up with your finger.

After the procedure, you should proceed to perform simple but effective exercises, which are carried out 2 times a day daily:

Maximum relaxation of the tongue. Put it on your bottom lip. Hold it in this position for 10 seconds, then repeat the approaches twice more.
Stick your tongue out of your mouth as far as possible. A 10 second hold in this state is required. Run 3 approaches.
Circle the lips with the tongue.
Clicking the tongue for 10 - 13 seconds.
It is necessary to slowly lead the tip of the tongue across the sky, while the mouth must be wide open. The direction of movement is from the teeth to the throat.
Fixation of the tongue in the sky behind the dentition. In this case, you need to try to open your mouth as wide as possible.

Massage is not always pleasant, sometimes it can be painful for a child. However, the effect of massage is always significant. To carry it out, the hands must be clean. You can find many videos showing both exercises and massage, but it is better to entrust the children to a professional and go for a consultation so that he shows what and how to do it right.

Surgical treatment: frenuloplasty

The operation to cut the frenulum is one of the most common and easy. She has no age restrictions. The newborn is carried out in the hospital. Cutting the frenulum before the age of 9 months is absolutely not painful, because in children of this age it does not yet have blood vessels and nerve endings. For the same reason, there is no blood at all during pruning. The recovery period takes a couple of hours.

The most favorable time for frenuloplasty of the frenulum of the tongue in children is considered to be the age of 5-8 years, when all of their milk teeth have not yet changed. The dissection is performed in a hospital under local anesthesia using electric scissors or an electrocoagulator.

However, technology does not stand still, and traditional tools such as scalpels and scissors are being replaced by lasers. Laser plastic in the mouth has many advantages:

No need for stitches. The laser not only makes an incision, but also vaporizes tissue areas, which leads to wound closure.
There is no blood during the operation.
Simultaneous trimming and sterilization of incision edges.
Baking of the affected vessels after tissue cutting.
The wound after laser surgery heals faster.
Minimal risk of complications.
A more comfortable process of plastic surgery in a preschool child.

More about the operation

There are three possible solutions to the problem:

Frenulotomy. This type of undercut is done to increase the length of the bridle.
Frenectomy. The frenulum is trimmed when it is almost completely excised.
Frenuloplasty. During such surgery, a change in the place of attachment of the frenulum in the mouth is made.

Carrying out such a simple operation allows you to solve many problems associated not only with discomfort. If proper measures are not taken in time, this is fraught with incorrect construction of the dentition, the development of problems with speech function.

Child preparation

No special measures are required to prepare the child for surgery with such a correction. An effective way to prepare the body is to do gymnastics, which includes the same set of exercises as for conservative stretching.

Sometimes the doctor prescribes laboratory and instrumental studies before the operation:

It is also always worth taking into account the emotional component and how the little patient will behave. For the procedure to go smoothly, the little one must be full and well-rested. Then it will be easier for him to endure a stressful situation, which is plastic.

Operation

An operation is performed in the office of a dental surgeon. First, the patient is given an anesthetic injection, after which the doctor, pulling the desired fold, makes a small incision with a scalpel. Then comes the time to apply small stitches to the edges of the wound. It is not necessary to remove them, because after a while they resolve on their own. If they resort to more modern technology and use a laser, then there is no such stage as suturing. This promotes rapid healing of exposed tissues.

Postoperative care and possible complications

The procedure itself takes no more than 10 minutes. The wound after plastic surgery of the frenulum of the tongue heals within a day, but for a few more days certain recommendations should be followed:

Food. You can not eat too hot and hard foods for a couple of days.
Personal hygiene. It is important to provide better oral care.

After a seven-day period, a course of speech therapy recovery is carried out. It comes down to training and strengthening the muscle tissues responsible for language mobility. Staging and fixing incorrectly pronounced sounds.

The operation takes place without complications due to its ease and simplicity of the structure of the frenulum.
Unpleasant consequences may appear already in the postoperative period. Perhaps the development of inflammatory processes in the damaged areas. Their reason is non-compliance with the rules of rehabilitation established by the doctor. Sometimes a hard scar is formed at the site of the incision. As a result, a second operation is required to eliminate it. However, this occurs mainly in adolescents and is very rare.

Is it possible not to cut the baby's bridle if there is evidence?

Some doctors believe that trimming the short frenulum is not necessary, as it will stretch on its own with age. However, most experts do not share this point of view. Naturally, surgical removal is not always required. Plastic surgery is necessary only if the pathology adversely affects the ability of the newborn to suckle the breast or the quality of the pronunciation of sounds.

A speech therapist, orthopedist or dental surgeon can prescribe it if there are such phenomena: