February is National Children’s Dental Health Month and many newborns are benefiting from a trip to the dentist thanks to Dr. Larry Korenman of Loveable Smiles in Richardson.

After three weeks, it was painfully clear that breastfeeding wasn’t working for Heather Gaddy of Allen or her newborn daughter. For mom, she was getting blisters. For little Brynlee, she was choking and even stopped breathing.

Mom learned Brynlee was tongue-tied and had a upper lip tie.

Tongue and lip ties are very common, but often not diagnosed even when it causes problems.

The issue restricts nourishment and normal tongue movement.

The problem happens when the little flap of tissue hooking the tongue to the bottom of the mouth is too short to let a baby’s tongue latch on to the mother’s breast. Lip tie is where the piece of skin between the top lip and teeth is too long.

Thanks to advances in dental laser technology, tongue-ties are easily treated without any pain or bleeding and there isn’t any risk of infection and the healing is instantaneous for infants. The  procedure takes less than 1 minute.

Traditional treatments for tongue-tie consists of “clipping” and it’s very difficult to find a professional who will perform a Frenectomy. It is no longer routinely taught in medical school.

The “wait and see” approach can lead to more problems: nursing and eating, nutritional issues, and speaking.

Learn more about the Laser Frenectomy for tongue tie and lip tie on our website.