Upper Lip Question

amother

Powderblue

Thu, May 25 2017, 12:58 pm

Put your tongue up above your top front teeth. You know that line that connects the part inside your lip to the part above your teeth? My baby's is really far down, going between her 2 front teeth. She is about 16 months now. My husband noticed it a couple of months ago. She has tons of teeth, nursed fine, eats, drinks, and is starting to speak fine. It caused a slight gap in her 2 front teeth, but that seems to be its only effect. Has any of you seen this before? Was the doctor concerned? Did he/she suggest surgery or anything. I've heard of Cleft Palate issues- is this that? I will ask at Tipat Chalav next time I go, but do I need to do anything else at this point?

simcha2

Thu, May 25 2017, 1:02 pm

It's called a frenulum. Think that it is a form of tongue tie when so low down. (Definitely not cleft lip or palate).

Know someone who had their child's snipped because it caused trouble with speech.

amother

Ecru

Thu, May 25 2017, 1:27 pm

The dentist saw dd had one and recommended a frenectomy, where the oral surgeon snipped the frenulum. This was when she was older and her adult teeth had already come in.

amother

Powderblue

Thu, May 25 2017, 2:16 pm

Thank you both! What a relief to know what it is and that it's fairly common!

A question for Amother Ecru- if her adult teeth had already come in, would it have been better to have it snipped before that so they would grow in straighter? Would it have made a difference?

lucky14

Thu, May 25 2017, 2:55 pm

It's what the others are saying it is.
We asked the doctor when he was only a few weeks old- he said don't worry about it. We asked again when he was a bit older- were told again not to worry about it.
We asked family friends who are doctors and dentists- they all said we should wait until he's a bit older and see if it effects (affects?) anything in a negative way- they said don't bother putting him through snipping it (even though it isn't a big deal) because it may not bother anything in the future- and if it does then we can do it anytime.

We haven't been to a pediatric dentist yet, but we prob should go soon. I'm planning on asking them when we have his first appointment.
my son is around the same age as yours btw.

amother

Cobalt

Thu, May 25 2017, 5:07 pm

I had it. It got much smaller as I got older, and I needed braces anyway so that closed the tiny remaining gap. Not a big deal. I think my dentist said that if it didn't resolve by the time I was 12 or so, they might snip it. But I never needed it. Also, I even had a slight speech impediment as a kid, but this generally doesn't cause it, and so snipping it wasn't even on the table for that.

We snipped my daughter's (and under her tongue) as a baby because she wasn't nursing well and it was very painful for me. But unless it's interfering, there's really no reason to do anything.

Also, it's not a pleasant procedure, so I wouldn't recommend it unless it was totally warranted.

lucky14

Thu, May 25 2017, 8:31 pm

amother wrote:

Also, it's not a pleasant procedure, so I wouldn't recommend it unless it was totally warranted.

Thank you for saying that. We were told that it's a simple procedure. I was debating for a while whether to have my sons snipped or not, it's good we listened to advice to leave it alone unless we see it interfering with things.