Frenectomy?

[Rachel12612]

My son turned 2 in June.
We have always realised that his lip was joined the him gum between his front teeth.
Over the past couple of weeks, this has got worse (seems to now be half way down his front teeth) and has bled on 3 separate occasions.
His speech is very slow (non existant) and I'm wondering if this could be partly to blame.
Has anyone any experience?
I don't know who to see, hv, doctor, or dentist?
There is a procedure where it can be snipped, although I can't find any info that isn't American.

See your GP. Tongue tie can affect speech.
We would refer to either ear, nose & throat or general surgeons at my hospital.

Thanks for the reply.
It's not his tongue, that's fine, it's the flap of skin between your lip and gum at the top. His joins between his teeth.

My daughter was having some molars removed and the dentist said that he would perform this too. I hadn't realised at the time is was so pronounced. She was knocked out for it.

What do you mean by speech is "non-existent"? Does he use single words and put two words together? Difficulty moving the upper lip would only affect certain speech sounds that require lip movement. I would see a speech therapist for some advice. Depending on where you live, you may need to see the HV or GP for a referral. But many speech therapy services offer drop-in clinics which you do not need a referral to attend or you can self-refer. If your son is not using single words by the age of two I would definitely get this looked into as it indicates a delay. Difficulties with speech could be due to pain…you mention it was bleeding. But if he is not using single words it is likely there is some sort of speech/language delay that may not be related to the difficulties with the upper lip. I would think a speech therapist would be your first port of call. Good Luck!

He's been referred for speech, his appointment is the end of July.
We get dada, oos (shoes and juice) and that it.
He eats and drinks ok, so don't think pain is a factor.

I think you should bring up the lip difficulty with the speech therapist and see what she has to say about it.

There's lots of advice on the internet to help encourage your son to start talking more.

This video has some simple tips you can try at home, but I'm sure the Speech Therapist will suggest some ideas especially tailored to your child.

He has an upper lip tie - my baby ds had this and we had it lasered off at five months old. HCPs generally know nothing about it in this country. It can impact growing teeth and breastfeeding. Even the midwife who cut his tongue tie did not know if it would cause problems.

If you can get him referred that will be great, but be prepared for a gp to tell you it is not a problem, it may not be but they won't necessarily know tbh. Hedwig's experience sounds v positive.

Where did he have it done?

Dr Malcolm Levinkind in Finchley, but he only performs this on children under one or over seven - presumably you would need a GA for a child in the middle of these ages? There is an informative facebook group if you do a search, it is very active in the US where this issue seems to be better recognised.