Many people don't know what it means when they hear this term. In fact, most of them happen to children. In fact, the composition is normal, that is, the tongue will not stretch straight when speaking. Do you know what a short tongue strap is now? What are the daily manifestations of short lingual frenulum? What other short tongue lacing operations are there? In order not to let the children appear in the future, everyone should learn.
What is the tongue strap too short?
In fact, the so-called tongue band is the tongue tendon in our mouth. When we open our mouth and tilt our tongue, we can see a band at the bottom of our tongue and mouth, that is, the tongue band.
Tongue frenulum usually exists only in newborns. Under normal circumstances, the neonate's lingual frenum extends to or near the tip of the tongue. Normal tongue strap can make the tongue move freely, and the tip of the tongue can naturally extend out of the mouth or lick up to the upper gum. During the development of the tongue, the frenulum gradually retracts to the base of the tongue.
In fact, under normal circumstances, if the child's tongue can't be tilted up after two years old, it is necessary to pay attention. It may be caused by abnormal tongue development, so he should beware of the phenomenon of short tongue band. At this time, he must take the child to see a doctor.
Tongue frenulum is too short, which means that after the child is born, the tongue frenulum does not retreat to the base of the tongue, so that the tongue cannot extend out of the mouth and the tip of the tongue cannot be upturned. The prevalence rate is 4% ~ 5%, and the ratio of male to female is 2.3 ~ 2.7: 1.0. Of course, parents find that the baby's lingual frenulum is too short and can't immediately judge it as abnormal. It is best to observe that children grow up after 2 years old.
Commonly used surgical methods include simple local anesthesia, complex local anesthesia and general anesthesia. If the frenulum is too short, which affects the extension of the tongue and the intelligibility of speech, the anterior part of frenulum can be simply removed by surgery without local anesthesia. If the frenulum is fibrotic, short and hard, that is, the lingual frenulum is shortened, complicated local anesthesia or general anesthesia should be performed.
Manifestation of too short lingual frenulum
1. The tongue cannot extend forward normally and freely: the tongue cannot extend out of the mouth, or the tip of the tongue is forked or "W" shaped when extended.
2. There is also a phenomenon that the tongue strap is too short, that is, the breast-fed child has no strength to feed, that is, the child's tongue can't wrap the nipple, and it can't wrap the nipple when using the bottle. This is also the case. Pay attention to this situation.
3. The part of the tongue sticking out of the mouth is not as long as that of normal children: the tongue sticking out of the mouth of children is shorter than that of normal children due to the pull of the tongue strap.
4. The child opens his mouth, and the tip of his tongue cannot be upturned: the child sticks out his tongue. If the tongue strap is too short, his tongue will be restricted, and he can't reach the upper gum or extend above the upper lip.
5. Recurrent ulcer appeared at the lingual frenum when teething.
6. Inability to speak clearly: If a child after 2 years old is diagnosed as having a short tongue strap after examination, it is necessary to treat the child with a short tongue strap in time, which will not affect his future growth, otherwise it will affect his normal pronunciation after he is older.
7. It is difficult to maintain oral hygiene when eating, and you can't lick minced meat.
8, eat slowly, swallow more: it also has a great impact on chewing function. People with a short tongue have difficulty chewing because of the small space for tongue movement, and will chew slowly when eating.
Causes of too short lingual frenulum
Tongue frenulum is a thin strip of tissue between the tongue and the mouth observed by newborns after the mouth is opened.
Under normal circumstances, after 2 years old, children's tongue tip will leave the frenum, which is mainly caused by congenital dysplasia, such as chronic inflammatory stimulation of frenum or traumatic scar. The frenum is shorter than the original normal frenum contracture. Therefore, frenulum is one of the common and slight congenital malformations.
In addition, if you suffer from cleft palate, uvula, lump at the base of your tongue and throat, congenital encephalitis and other diseases, it will be manifested as unclear pronunciation.
Tongue frenulum, like upper lip frenulum and buccal frenulum, is a kind of connective tissue, which is attached to the back of the tongue abdomen, connecting the tongue with the floor of the mouth and maintaining certain activities.
If the tongue is attached to the tip of the tongue or its back part too much, the movement of the tongue will be limited. When the tongue sticks out, the tip of the tongue will appear "M" or "V" shape, and some children can't even stick their tongue out of their mouth. This is what we call "short tongue band" in clinic.
Children with too short lingual frenulum have a certain influence on pronunciation, especially the "R" sound. When the patient's tongue strap is later attached to the tip of the tongue, the tongue is W-shaped when it is stretched forward, and there is a notch in the middle of the shape; When the tongue is rolled up, it is obviously limited. In severe cases, the tongue cannot extend beyond the lower lip.
Short tongue strap not only limits the extension of the tongue, but also affects the inability of the tongue to lift up and roll back. Therefore, in this respect, short tongue bands do affect children's pronunciation, but only roll tongue sounds, such as "zh", "ch" and "sh". Let the child stick out his tongue, observe whether there is a depression on the tip of the tongue, and judge whether the tongue strap is too short.
Too short lingual frenulum can be corrected by surgery, and the operation is very simple. Tongue frenulum can be elongated as long as it is cut horizontally and vertically. The sooner the operation is done on the lingual frenulum, the better, because children are used to talking when they are older. Even if the operation is performed on the shortened tongue, it will be more difficult to change the original speaking habits after operation.
Tongue frenulum operation
Surgery can be used to treat tongue strap that is too short. Some parents are too nervous about their children's tongue development. They worry that too short a tongue strap will definitely affect their pronunciation, speech and daily life. They may think that early surgery can treat short tongue bands as soon as possible.
In fact, it is necessary to observe the development of the child's tongue strap before the age of 2, and then check it after the age of 2 to confirm whether the tongue strap is too short. Premature operation (2 ~ 6 months old) can easily lead to scar on the surgical wound, so some children must have a second operation.
The best time for lingual frenulum surgery is when the child is 5 years old. For the treatment of short lingual frenulum, three surgical methods can be selected: simple local anesthesia, complex local anesthesia and general anesthesia. Let me introduce it to you.
1, simple local anesthesia
Scissors, electrotome or laser cut the abnormal lingual frenulum, which is generally not sutured. This method is suitable for children with thin tongue strap, less incision bleeding and less wound adhesion. Advantages: simple. Disadvantages: The surgical effect of some children may be slightly poor, and they may not reach the normal level completely, and may need a second operation.
2. Complex local anesthesia
Generally, children over the age of 6 can cooperate. After cutting the lingual frenulum, suture is needed to reduce the chance of wound adhesion. Advantages: local anesthesia, good surgical effect. Disadvantages: Need children to cooperate.
3, general anesthesia surgery
Most of them are children who can't cooperate with the operation and need to suture the wound. Advantages: One operation can basically achieve satisfactory results. Disadvantages: hospitalization is required, and the operation cost is relatively high.
Postoperative nursing care of lingual frenulum.
Parents should pay attention to postoperative nursing care of children after tongue frenulum operation;
1. Observe for half an hour to ensure that there is no bleeding: the child is observed for half an hour in the outpatient department to see if there is bleeding, so as to prevent mild bleeding and deal with it in time if necessary.
2, the postoperative diet is not limited, mainly based on nutritious liquid food: because the wound has not completely healed after surgery, if eating hard things will affect the wound healing, the mother can supplement the nutritional soup to the child, mainly based on liquid food, to maintain a balanced nutrition.
Rinse your mouth with bell solution or normal saline after eating within one week: this is mainly to prevent bacteria from infecting the wound again.
4. Practice tongue rolling after recovery: It is not the normal pronunciation of the child immediately after surgery, and it is necessary to correct bad pronunciation habits through training.
5, pay attention to oral cleaning and surgical oral care: if the surgical oral infection, the scar is significantly reduced, it is easy to pull the tongue to retract the tip of the tongue.
Harm of too short lingual frenulum
If a child after the age of 2 is diagnosed as having a short lingual frenulum, it will often bring some harm to the child, including the following three points:
1, which limits the activity of the tongue in the oral cavity.
Because the tongue plays an important role in enunciation and pronunciation, if the tongue band is too short, it will affect enunciation and pronunciation, especially for tongue rolling, palatal sound and tongue sound, such as the "R" of the English letter "L" in Chinese Pinyin and the difficulty in eating.
2, affect the normal chewing
When the tongue movement is limited, it will also affect chewing. For example, when the space for tongue movement is small, children will have difficulty chewing, can't chew and swallow food like normal children, and will chew slowly when eating.
3. Induce ulcer
When sucking milk in infancy, because the lingual frenum is too short, it is often rubbed by two lower incisors to produce ulcers.
If the child is diagnosed as having a short lingual frenum, corrective surgery is needed. Tongue frenulum surgery is best when the child is about 5 years old and before 6 years old, which will not affect the child's physical and mental health and study.
It should also be noted that pronunciation is closely related to the language center of the brain, nose and throat, except that the lingual frenulum is too short. Therefore, after lingual frenulum surgery, the child's pronunciation is still unclear, so he should go to neurology or otolaryngology for examination.
Prevention of too short lingual frenulum
What parents are most worried about is that their children's pronunciation is not accurate. In fact, in addition to surgery, there are also some methods in daily life that can help parents better prevent the problem of inaccurate pronunciation.
1, create a good language learning environment for children and let them contact with children of the same age, because it is easier for children to learn and communicate.
2. When teaching children to learn to speak, we should give priority to physical objects, so that children will be interested and have a deeper memory. In addition, children should be asked more questions in the teaching process, because asking questions can stimulate children's brains and promote the development of language functions.
3, don't guess the child's wishes, speak instead of the child, but guide him to say it. For example, if he wants something with his hands, you can pretend not to understand and guide him to express it. If you really don't say it, you can say that the rest will be supplemented by children.
4. Parents should also set an example. Imitation is the main way for children to learn to speak. Therefore, when talking to children, parents should speak slowly, softly and clearly, so that children can hear every sound you make.
5. Don't scold and scold the child in the process of educating him, and don't force him to speak. Praise and encourage him more, and he will learn to speak slowly.
Conclusion: You should pay attention to the short tongue band from an early age. When your child is 2 years old, you should pay attention to the long strip under his tongue. If you find that your child's pronunciation has been inaccurate or your tongue is not straight, you should be careful that your tongue strap is short. At this time, it is necessary to treat in time. If it is serious, you should go to the hospital for surgery.