Upper lip tie in a 14 month old

crh1221

Sooooooo WHY haven't I ever noticed my daughter's upper frenulum is connected VERY low on her gums? I feel like an awful mother not to have even noticed. And it makes so much sense since we had such a rough time breastfeeding. No one even mentioned it  to me. 

I've started reading up on it and it seems like most pediatricians aren't huge fans of having it lasered  unless it's causing problems...but she's only 14 months old and has just started saying words so who knows if she'll have speech issues.She does have a considerable gap between her top center teeth, so I can see that being an issue later on in life. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with an upper lip tie in their toddler, or even an older child, could you share it with me? Or if you have any recommendations, reading, etc. I plan on mentioning it to our pediatrician the next time we are at the doctor just to hear what he has to say. Until then, I'll form my own opinion.

kxp004

I believe this was one of the things that DS had if I'm not mistaken... you are talking about the little piece of flesh connecting the upper lip to the gums correct? 

if you are continue reading lol if not ignore all this junk I'm about to write

our LC spotted this when we were making our attempts at BF which failed miserably... however having this piece of skin prevented him from rolling his upper lip... She also told us that it would have serious dental issues once his teeth started coming in, which you are beginning to experience it seems and speech problems due to the inability to roll his lip...

the gap will be there until you have it cut... We did this with DS... supposedly there is no feeling in it being that it doesn't have any nerve endings... but it's important that they cut closer to the lip rather than the gum for this reason...

unfortunately the Dr wasn't as good at it as the one we were supposed to see who had become sick on our appointment day... she cut too close to the gum and DS probably felt it whereas he shouldn't have... we did however come prepared with orajel and numbed it pretty fast afterwards...  it was a very fast procedure however and DS's front teeth do not have the gap...

do not beat yourself up over this... we would have never figured it out on our own either... BF was horrible for us too although we had other issues as well... thankfully I found a really super amazing LC who knew about this sort of thing along with about 50 million other things that none of the other LCs even caught or had heard about... 

it's your choice what you do about  it, but my recommendation is you get it done now before speech becomes a problem and while teeth are still coming in... plus your LO is so young that she probably won't even remember it should they make the same cut we received (which was really minor even though at the time I was very angry and upset)... if you want I can give you my LCs name and Facebook link since she runs a business and  you can ask her for more info.... she is out of the Houston area... just let me know.... GL!

crh1221

I would LOVE her name and info! No one ever mentioned it to me so I never knew that she had it or it could've been causing us so much trouble. I don't want to rush into things, but I would like to collect all information I can! I just worry about her speech being an issue one day =/ Thanks so much!!

kxp004

sure thing  

sent you a private message... I'll try to check mine if you need to get back in touch with me.... otherwise just try to catch me on a post or something 

best of luck to your LO... she's a cutie! 

Snow1010

My husband and I both had a huge gap between our front teeth as kids and we both had a labial frenectomy (surgery to remove tissue). Neither of use had issues because of the frenulum, it was more of a cosmetic surgery. 

The surgery worked for DH and even without ever having braces, he has a tiny space between his teeth.  For me, it didn't work.  Even after 2 rounds of braces, the space always returned.

We knew that DD would most likely have this same "issue" and sure enough, the gap between her front teeth is ginormous.

But, she's not having any issues because of it (if she was we would consider the surgery now).

I spoke with our Pedi and he seemed anti-surgery at any point in life unless it was causing issue.  I also spoke with an oral surgeon who said that we should not even consider surgery until her permanent teeth are in.  

Karen1998

We have this (which also explains some of our nursing issues) and actually saw the dentist for the first time last week.  They said that it's not something to worry about, though it will pull his teeth apart a bit.  DH has straight, but slightly separated, teeth, so I suspect DS got it from DH.  DH never had braces.  They also said that when he has a mouth injury (which is pretty common for active boys), he'll bleed quite a bit from this area, but it may actually work in our favor and loosen things up.  They also said that it's probably why he hates having his front teeth brushed.  It's so tight up there that the brush irritates his gums and they're pretty much impossible to not hit.  So, I have no solution, but it seems to be something that's not a huge issue.  DS is also on age level for speech, so it doesn't seem to be adversely affecting that.

MisN

DD and I both have this.  I had the tissue removed when I was about 13 for cosmetic reasons at the same time as getting braces (it was keeping a space between my two front teeth).

 It doesn't usually affect speech etc. and really is a cosmetic issue.

 

jenb_99

I don't know much about upper ties, but I had my tongue clipped at 18 and a lower frenectomy at 21 (I had the lower lip done bc the tie was causing my gums to recede; the tongue was done when I had my wisdom teeth out). Neither caused me any more discomfort than a canker sore, if even that. Had they been done when I was little, I probably wouldn't have even noticed. If you believe it'll be beneficial, push to have it done as early as possible. It's the most minor of minor procedures and shouldn't require any more than a local anesthetic. She'll probably be a little whiny for a day or two, but the benefits far outweigh any discomfort (which she'll promptly forget about anyway). You should be able to find someone willing to do it even if your regular doctor protests.