Laser Frenectomy in Melbourne
Laser Frenectomy Melbourne for tongue-tie in adults can restore speech and bite functionality and improve quality of life, and is more affordable than traditional surgery.
What is a tongue-Tie?
Tongues with a restricted frenulum will often appear with a cleft at the tip, or present in a heart shape when the tongue is sticking out.
Tongue tie’ is a condition resulting in a restrictive or tight ‘lingual frenulum’, which is the connective tissue that connects the bottom of the tongue to the floor of the mouth. Having a restricted or tight frenulum can impair the movement of the tongue, and can impact eating and speech. In infants and young children, it can impact their breast-feeding ability and social development.
There are several frenulums in the mouth that can develop in such a way. Your lingual frenulum can be seen when you open your and point your tongue out and up. A person with tongue tie will have reduced mobility of the tongue and might not be able to poke their tongue out as far as others.
Book onlineThe Potential Effects of Tongue-Tie
Speech development
Tongue tie can often affect an individual’s speech. Some children with tongue tie can adjust their pronunciation of speech to sound relatively unimpeded, even those with a frenulum attached quite close to the tip of the tongue. However, a lot of children may not be able to compensate adequately, especially when talking quickly, where pronunciation and articulation can be impacted.
Dental health
Having a restricted movement of the tongue also prevents it from doing its job properly. Because the tongue cannot effectively sweep away food and debris or spread saliva, this can result in increased risk of cavities, gum disease, and bad breath.
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If left untreated, a tongue tie can result in:
- Reduced oral hygiene
- Weight gain due to impacted feeding or eating
- Impacted development of correct speech, or potential failure to development pronunciation of certain speech sounds
- Impediment of correct speech production
- Difficulty or messy eating, inability to lick lips fully
- Increased production of saliva
- Inability to swallow normally, which may also create future orthodontic problems like open bites and crowded teeth.
Laser Frenectomy for Adults
Cosmetic & Laser Dentistry Centre currently provides laser frenectomy for adults. For treatment of tongue-tie in young children, we recommend speaking with a GP who will be able to refer to a children’s tongue-tie dentistry.
The goals of tongue tie diagnosis and treatment is to ensure patients can achieve normal movement and motion of the tongue, allowing for effective function, as well as correct speech and eating.
The Tongue Tie Adults Surgery Involves:
- Application of topical anaesthetic.
- Tensioning the frenum.
- Releasing frenulum with laser
Using dental lasers, a tongue tie can be treated without the need for general anaesthesia and blades, and provides much faster healing time. Dr King has held laser dentistry accreditation for over a decade, receiving extensive training and education, training using the Biolase and WaterLase and multiple other laser methods.
The laser treatment process results in:
- Laser cauterisation creates minimal bleeding.
- Fast healing due to laser cauterisation.
- Minimal pain and discomfort following the procedure.
- Requires no general anaesthetic, only local anaesthetic in some instances.
- More affordable than traditional surgery.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the Recovery Time for a Laser Frenectomy for Adults?
The recovery time for a laser frenectomy is typically under 2 weeks, during which patients may experience mild discomfort, swelling, and dietary restrictions compared to potentially months if this procedure was performed by scalpel.
How Does Laser Frenectomy for Adults Differ From Traditional Tongue Tie Surgery in Adults?
Laser frenectomy for Adults differs from traditional tongue tie surgery in adults because it uses a dental laser instead of a scalpel or scissors to remove or modify the frenulum.
What are the Advantages of Laser Frenectomy for Tongue Tie in Adults?
Laser Frenectomy for tongue tie adults provides improved precision and results in reduced bleeding. It also minimises trauma to the surrounding tissues and results in potentially faster healing time than traditional tongue tie surgery in adults.
It is also more affordable than traditional surgery.
