Tongue Tie #1 is fixed!

I wrote about what tongue tie is and why people of all ages might be interested in getting their corrected here. And I wrote about the MTHFR mutation that we all have that may contribute to having a tongue tie here.

Today was Jason’s appointment to get his tongue tie fixed. We all went eagerly anticipating the girls getting to watch at least part of the procedure and get comfortable with it. We were also anticipating the Dr checking out the girls mouths and hopefully making an appointment for W to get hers fixed as well. Sometimes you don’t get what you expect.

When we got there Jason went right back. He told the dental assistant that the girls were supposed to go back too and watch and she said “Let’s talk to the Dr first”. That was the last we saw of him till it was all over. After we had been waiting quite a while with the girls getting more and more restless and asking when they would get to go back I asked the receptionist if she knew what was going on. She told us that the Dr had decided that morning that it wasn’t such a great idea for the girls to watch but that he had planned to bring them back before he got started and show them his equipment. Apparently he forgot. Also my husband told him that it would probably work much better to examine my children’s mouths at the start of the appointment time instead of the end, while they were still fresh and not tired of sitting around. Apparently the dentist thought his plan of doing them last was better. Despite having 3 girls of his own he didn’t seem to really understand young children.

By the time he was ready to see them they were really annoyed (as was I) and refused to cooperate until I bribed them with a promise of a treat. My youngest isn’t great about cooperating with things in her mouth on a good day. Making her sit in a waiting room with no toys didn’t help matters. (I was expecting them to be in the procedure so I didn’t bring many toys). He finally examined them and seemed puzzled as to why they were there. Despite my pointing out their posterior tongue ties he still missed them. Finally I was able to communicate it to him so that he understood at which point he said “We don’t fix those”. Oh. So this was a waste of our morning. Thanks.

But rant over he did fix my husbands tongue tie. It took about an hour start to finish. The actual lasering only took 5-10 minutes. The numbing medicine had to be reapplied a couple of times in the procedure and wore off quickly but my husband it a red head and that is common for him with any sort of medication so that may not be common for most people. He had been told that the numbing agent would be included in the water with the laser but for some reason it wasn’t. He is somewhat sore now and can take an over the counter pain killer if he needs it. He has been instructed to avoid eating or drinking anything very hot for the next 24 hours and to stick with soft foods. He goes back in a week to get it checked. No sutures. No bleeding although he did bring home some gauze just in case. It should be all better by tomorrow as far as pain goes. We can’t tell yet if it is going to make any difference for him and his speech. Hopefully he will soon be able to speak clearly at lightning speed as he has always wanted. (He already speaks at lightning speed, now hopefully we will be able to understand him when he does).

Next step is to figure out who can fix my eldest’s tongue tie before her narrow palate is too fixed to easily correct. And we need to figure out who and when to plan this procedure for my youngest. She has the most impairment in her life from the tongue tie and so fixing it soon is ideal but she needs to be able to cooperate for the procedure. I have just learned that nitrous oxide (laughing gas) is a very bad idea for people with MTHFR mutations. It can harm your sense of smell and cause nerve damage, so that isn’t an option for my family. (Yet another reason to get yourself tested for MTHFR even if you aren’t having issues right now).

The dentist is suppose to e-mail us his before and after photos of my husbands tongue and I will post a couple here when I get them. He is also supposed to contact his mentor who just happens to be a local, world famous laser dentist who writes text books and travels the world teaching about laser dentistry. We are hopeful that he is knowledgeable about the correction of posterior tongue ties and can help us with this.

As an after note.

If I had started with this dentist to check my kids for a tongue tie I never would have known that they have one. He doesn’t know how to correct a posterior tongue tie so he never even checked for it (I’m not certain he even knows how to check for it.) This is why you need to be an advocate for your (and your children’s) health and keep searching for answers when things just don’t add up. I was the first one to identify the posterior tongue tie in my girls. It was confirmed by a Dr who is an expert in tongue ties and missed by this dentist who said he understood tongue ties as well. If your kids have issues with reflux, speech, or feeding problems of all kinds and you have been told it isn’t tongue tie, or they haven’t been specifically checked, take the time to learn how to identify it yourself and check them thoroughly. It isn’t painful to check and it just might prevent a lot of stress and even pain in the future. Reflux, braces, and chronic sinus problems are all painful things that correcting a tongue tie at a young enough age can avoid.