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Upper labial frenulum very thick on 11 month old baby

4 replies

ReshapeWhileDamp · 28/11/2011 11:38

I'm kicking myself for not noticing this earlier, but it's become very obvious as DS2's upper teeth have come in. He has a significant diastema (about 3mm) and the frenulum is thick and fleshy and seems part of his gum, almost. It rund between his teeth. He won't let me see behind his front teeth (is that even possible without a dental mirror? Grin) but it does blanch when you curl his upper lip up.

He's always had a slightly awkward latch and I often have to flip his top lip up for him, but he's thrived on breastfeeding and I've not had any significant nipple pain. Though now he has 4 top teeth, I do often get notches pressed into the sides of my nipples when he's not concentrating, which hurt. Hmm

I've done some googling and have found that experts and HCPs are widely divided on what to do. Confused Obviously I don't want his adult teeth to come in with a large diastema too, as there are implications for speech and also, I think, for tooth placement, as the frenulum can pull teeth out of alignment as well as set the top two far apart. Some dentists think you should wait until the adult teeth come in and then do surgery to divide the tie. Others seem to think this is best done as fast as possible, in which case, we've missed the boat. Sad

Is there any way around a GA if the tie is snipped? From my reading, it looks like a slightly more involved procedure than tongue tie.

Any experiences with this? What should I be doing about it at this stage, if anything? I have a sinking feeling that if I take him to the GP, they will see he's thriving, that my nipples aren't falling off and say 'oh well, no problem then'. Should we go to the dentist instead?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Whenisitmysleepytime · 28/11/2011 16:56

No idea but My ds was slightly older than your when he cut his own tongue tie after falling with a toy in his mouth.
He has a thick tongue tie which re-grew after snipping when he was a baby.

I think it's GA for any type of snip after 6 months. There's a consultant in Southampton who might see you privately if you can't get referred. He did dd's tongue tie but hers re grew (4 times before we gave up). She hasat least partially cut hers herself too I think.

he's lovely

HTH

thisisyesterday · 28/11/2011 17:00

i think at his age you would have to have a GA now tbh

but like the previous poster, my second son had this (he also had a lower tongue tie) and it snapped itself when he fell down 2 steps.
he did have a slight gap before it snapped, but once it had snapped his teeth closed together again!

I can see where I used to have one and it has snapped too.

ReshapeWhileDamp · 28/11/2011 17:19

I've come across a lot of people whose children's ties snapped when they had an accident, but now I feel grim sort of hoping that DS2 will trip and snap his! I think we might take him to the dentist first, who will hopefully know something about it and maybe suggest some action.

Presumably a GA for this sort of procedure won't have him under more than a few minutes? Sad

OP posts:
leftmymistletoeatthedoor · 28/11/2011 18:25

I am sleep deprived and don't fully understand your post but dd had a tongue tie, quite a significant one, it was a 2 second procedure with a pair of scissors at 2 weeks old BUT her tongue still isn't 'right' and I've been told she would need to go under a GA to have further surgery. She is 14m.

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