How’s that for a post title?
Finally home after a long day of to and fro. I sat on the couch with W in the den and wanted to have our daily inspection of the front teeth that are slowly making their entrance. And a coin that had been waiting to clink down into my brain finally dropped and my brain was able to realize that, yes, something is not quite right.
And while W made it known that he was very much done with my inspection I continued to look. I can now tell you that part of W’s upper lip is attached to his gums. A few minutes research and I can tell you that I am not a doctor nor a dentist, but W totally has an attached upper lip frenulum. (and I can also tell you NOT to google just the word “frenulum”)
I am not freaked out, but I am realizing that I want to speak to someone about this. Calling my pediatrician just annoyed me as once again someone in their office has put all phones to fax. I am glad that I am just in a place to be annoyed by this because if it was anything big time serious I would be irate at not being able to talk to someone.
There isn’t much research online about this. Which is why I am blogging about it now in the hopes that one of you guys out there has had experience with this. Most of the things I have found online seem to be diagnosed after a failure to latch in the hospital or much later when there is a speech delay.
And most seem to say that surgery will be inevitable. But I can’t figure out if this is a common thing (aka something insurance will cover) or elective.
Because I didn’t have anything else to think about right now…
(& if you take another studied look at his upstairs teeth photo you can see the lip attached at the gum between his teeth)
EDITED TO ADD: Just wanted to make sure ya’ll know that I am not in a panic about this. It is just an observation and I am trying to educate myself should there be an issue. SO thankful for the been there/done that/know someone comments. Also will probably not make any calls (so good thing his doc’s office was on the fritz) as I don’t want W to deal with the two words I have to battle with: preexisting condition.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
My little girl had to have her lower one clipped. For teeny tiny newborns it’s just a little procedure at an ENT’s with some scissors, but they said if we waited until she was older, it’d have to be a whole general anesthesia thing. But it definitely seemed to be a real medical thing that insurance should cover (but you know how that goes).
Still, in the absence of any symptoms or diagnosis, in the middle of all you have to worry about, I’d try to let it go a bit. When you get your new ped, ask, but I bet it’s nothing serious, or even nothing at all.
I had mine clipped when I was 8 years old. It was a minor procedure that my dentist did in the office. I never had speech issues, but my two front teeth had a big gap and tissue between them. I still required braces, but for more reasons than just the gap. I suppose there are different levels of severity and it’s certainly something that should be looked at. You’ll probably be fine holding off until you get settled in your new home and meet your new ped.
My sister has this. It caused a gap between her front teeth, since she refused to let the dentist snip it.
I hope you can get through to the doc! How frustrating. Grrrr.
My husband’s cousin had this. I’ll spare you the long boring details, but bascially they did NOT have the surgery until he was much older (middle school?), and even today, his aunt still regrets waiting so long (he is in his mid 20s now). He recently had a daughter born with the same thing, and his mom is pestering him to get it fixed ASAP.
hi,
my youngest son had a similar thing. the dentist said that as he gets older…like 10ish plus he “may” need a simple procedure to cut it a little bit b/c it may cause him to have a space btw his two front teeth. there werent any speech delays and he’s 6. he currently has a little space but nothing unusual. from the picture it doesnt look bad at all, especially b/c you are stretching his lip to see his teeth (the things we will do for a good pic of those teefers). i bet it will work itself out as he grows and gets his big boy teeth. i was going to send u a picture of my son but i cant seem to locate ur email on the blog. try not to worry!
kathy
Cali,
Paediatric dentsitry is not my thing, but I really don’t think this is a big issue.
Everyone has a frenulum there, the exact layout varies person to person. It’s a normal structure. If it isn’t causing Whit any functional problem (which it isn’t, and I would think would have been unlikely) then most would leave it.
Clipping or not clipping it will only be for cosmetic reasons, I can’t see how it would change the way the underlying teeth emerge, that’s down to other factors. If it’s done, it needs to be done with a bit of care and probably in an older mouth- if it is clipped too high, you get an overly gummy smile, kwim?
The kind of frenulum (well the clean one) that google will mostly refer to is actually the one found between the base of the tongue and the floor of the mouth- a tongue tie. Those CAN cause some problem with feeding, but often don’t and again if not a problem can be left quite safely. One of my twins had one at birth, and it’s stretched out just fine. She eats and talks perfectly normally
g
dentistry, not my typo, clearly
My son has one. He was also tongue-tied, which we had clipped around 8 days old. We didn’t notice the labial frenulum (it inserts between his front teeth) until the past few months (he turned 2 in September). His pediatrician said not to worry about it, that in some children it will change as they grow and that it’s not a cause for concern yet. My mother in law, who is a dental hygienist, also said that it can wait to be addressed. If it needs to be clipped, she said that they can use a laser to quickly separate it with less trauma than other methods. She also said that many children will fall and hit their mouth and it will separate on its own. I was briefly worried about it but I’m not anymore. I hope that helps a little bit!
I had this done when I was around 19. It wasn’t so much that my lip was visibly “tied down”, but the tissue went down in between my two front teeth and caused a huge gap. I had braces for that and many other reasons. Why they didn’t do this before the braces I don’t know, but this was back in the late 1970s. When the braces had been off for a few years the gap was coming back so the oral surgeon did the procedure in his office with just a shot of novacaine. That was the worst part, getting a shot up under my upper lip. I had 2-3 stitches and it was better in about a week.
Okay, so once upon a time and many years ago, I was an elementary school teacher. And during the summers, I ran the school’s summer camp. And we had a No Running Inside rule. And Stephanie, she was six, she broke the No Running Inside rule. And she fell on the edge of the table. And she cut that little flap of skin. (And ran to me crying and left a trail of blood across the floor.) (Which I later had to clean up.) And it bled and bled and bled. Her dad came to the school to try to stop it. I gave her a popsicle. It didn’t stop bleeding and she went to the doctor/dentist (I obviously didn’t go, so I don’t know which) and they removed the whole darn little flap of skin. (Which yes, I know it is called a frenulum, but little flap of skin is so much cuter.) She was fine. Oh, and the moral of the story is that I am mean because before she left, I made her stand up in front of the whole summer camp, bleeding, holding a paper towel to her mouth and say “This is why we don’t run inside.” Except that it sounded like “thif if why ve don run insife.”
I don’t think it’s usually much of a procedure and like others said could likely wait until things have calmed down some.
An attached frenulum isn’t unusual at all. The procedure to fix it is usually a quick snip and, as it can interfere with speech development (not common but possible), most insurance companies cover it.
I would guess that if tongue is covered that lip tie would be also.
Seems like you can wait until you get settled in. I would still ask about it. I’m sure each case is addressed differently for insurance purposes.
Wyatt had the same problem and it had yet to hinder his speaking. He could speak clearer than some children much, much older than he was. A heads up though, once he is mobile, it is VERY common for them to fall and split it. Wyatt did this and it bled A LOT but the pedi said that she wasn’t worried. It has caused a gap between his front teeth but she thinks it will close. It is pretty certain he will need braces already, though, so just another thing to fix. Now Madelinn has the same connection of the frenulum to the gums.
I have nothing helpful to add, but is it wrong if I say “that’s really interesting!” … Nature does funny things sometimes.
My brother and I were both tongue-tied as kids, which made it impossible for us to roll our Rs in Spanish class, but was otherwise not too bothersome. He had his snipped in high school when his wisdom teeth were removed, and mine just snapped on its own in college — (here’s the hilarious part) while a guy I was dating was, er, kissing me — which was very ouch, by the way, enough to make me wish I’d had it done by a doc, rather than accidentally by some random dude with odd smooching technique.
You just KNOW I had to go and Google “frenulum”, right? Ick!
Me too.
I still have mine. It was never snipped. But yes, it did cause a gap in my teeth, but as I got older they shifted into place. As a youngster I had some speech issues, but that went away too.
I never knew I was an oddball! Just know W is in good company.
Once again I have nothing useful to add but it sounds like it may not be that serious or complicated according to all the wonderful bloggers above me here. Whatever needs to be done, do it. W is da man and so is his momma! xoxoxoxo
Get your pediatrician or dentist to assert that it will interfere with W’s speech development. That way insurance will cover it.
Had one, it caused a gap between my teeth. Had it snipped. It was an outpatient procedure. I listened to “In a Gadda Da Vida” on my Walkman while it was happening. I was done before the drum solo, and then I went water skiing. No biggie.
Wow–what a great, observant Momma you are!
Will be thinking of you all as you make your trek north! Hopefully will be able to see you and W at some point in the near future since you will be a lot closer to me now!
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