Tongue Tie Question - Page 18

[gabbyraja]

Here an oral surgeon was the first recommendation... BTW, in case any future mama is looking in my area, http://www.osalansing.com/ does all ages, all types of tongue and maxillary ties, and they use a laser. They do not accept my insurance, however, ($375/procedure. Not totally outrageous by far, but more than we can afford now) so I'm still hunting. Mid-MI ENT does both (they also did my 9 yr old's tonsillectomy), they do not use a laser, and they will put my 7 year old under anesthesia in the hosp to do it, so I'm not thrilled about using them. However, they do accept insurance... Difficult decisions.

ETA, took my kids to Mid_MI ENT to have them looked at today. They do NOT do both, only tongue, and they do not use GA... Guess the person that answers the phone knows nothing. And he looked at my kids with type 3 and 4 and said he wouldn't do them, that there's no reason to and it's dangerous to get so close to the salivary glands. Sigh. Off to find another lead. Just wanted to post in case anyone else in the area is ever looking, they know not to waste their time.

Edited by gabbyraja - 12/28/10 at 4:42pm

[LaurieG]

Bumping this up again.  DD (age 3) has been getting ST since Sept (again) for her poor tongue coordination, which we think it the reason she doesn't eat well and isn't growing well even on HGH injections.  Basically the theory is that she knows she can't handle many textures of foods so she avoids them.   The ST has made great progress but even with V-stim and lots of exercises in weekly therapy she really cannot bring the tip of her tongue down at all (as in to lick your bottom lip).  Also she has recently learned how to sweep her inner cheek on the left side but she can't do the same on the right.  The most she can lateralize to the right is to get the corner of her lips.  The question of TT has come up several times since she was an infant but nobody could ever say definitively that she was.  But there is a doctor now in the area who is a TT expert - studied in California with someone.  So I took DD to this doc last week and she said she definitely has a posterior TT.  The doc is a Family Practice doc so she doesn't do OR's - she clips with a local in her office only.  DD is far too anxious to ever let that happen, and even if we were successful at getting her clipped she would likely never trust a doctor again, which won't work because she goes to doctors all the time.  So we're thinking about going back to the ENT and asking him to clip, which people who are familiar with him say he will if a professional tells him he should - he just doesn't know how to diagnose it himself.  But that would be under a general in the OR.  Or we are looking into whether someone in the area would do it with nitrous oxide and a local but I suspect it will be better covered by insurance going the OR route.

SSOOOOO, anyway, the Family practice doc said she can't make any claims as to whether the clipping will help with the tongue coordination issue.  Does anyone have any experience or knowledge on this?  Does it make sense that an asymmetrical range of motion would be due to a tongue tie? 

[Lady Lilya]

It makes complete sense to me.  

But I would be really concerned that the person who is going to do the clipping can't tell that it is tied.  How will he know how far to clip?  That would freak me out.  If he cuts too far, there is a major blood vessel there!

[laurakathy]

I stumbled upon this thread...and can't really "answer" your question, but....our daughter had a frenulum release surgery at about 1.5 yo. It was amazing! By that night, even her cries sounded different.

She still has some oral-motor issues, sensory stuff, etc....but the tongue-tie surgery helped a lot with her speech/sounds...She still has some asymmetry, etc....at the time we had just started with an SLP and I can't really say if things got better after the surgery with that (we didn't really know to look at it, to tell you the truth).

Good luck,

Laura

Originally Posted by LaurieG

SSOOOOO, anyway, the Family practice doc said she can't make any claims as to whether the clipping will help with the tongue coordination issue.  Does anyone have any experience or knowledge on this?  Does it make sense that an asymmetrical range of motion would be due to a tongue tie? 

[Panserbjorne]

Originally Posted by LaurieG 

SSOOOOO, anyway, the Family practice doc said she can't make any claims as to whether the clipping will help with the tongue coordination issue.  Does anyone have any experience or knowledge on this?  Does it make sense that an asymmetrical range of motion would be due to a tongue tie? 

It does with many kids.  I'd contact someone like Dr. Kotlow in NY who does this routinely.  He wouldn't necessarily see the difference, but he may get feedback from those that do.

[WuWei]

bump, tons of info here!