Lip Tie/ Tongue Tie Revision

One week ago, we brought Matheson to West U Pediatric Dentistry to meet with Dr Piya Ganha. We noticed that Matty didn't get good suction on his bottle and would dribble while eating. This caused excess air to be swallowed and gas pains. Our pediatrician noticed he had a thick lip tie during his 4 month appointment and referred us to an ENT. TT/LT can cause speech and feeding issues, so I wanted to get the revision done quickly to circumvent this and also allow a quicker healing while he was still little.

After doing some research, I decided a cold laser was the better option at a pediatric dentist rather than scissors used at the ENT. I also joined the Facebook group, Texas Tongue Tie Support.

At our consultation, it was discovered that Matheson had both a tongue and tip tie. On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the worst, his lip was a 3 and his tongue was a 2. We were able to have the procedure done the same day. Since it's not common to add a infant to your dental plan, only medical after birth, we paid out of pocket for the procedure at the cost of $1100. I am grateful we were able to make an informed decision on which type of doctor to use and afford the cost.

The first 3 days were brutal! Matty cried and cried and barely ate. It broke our heart. I needed to give round the clock Tylenol to keep him comfortable even though the Tylenol only seemed to last for about 1-2 hours. Every 4 hours, he needed mouth stretches done to prevent reattachment. He hated the stretches and would scream so hard he turned purple.  At one point, I was up with him several times in the middle of the night and I couldn't get him to stop crying or to sleep and I started crying. Nick got up to relieve me and ended up pushing Matheson in his stroller for 30 minutes until he finally doozed off.

I went for an early follow-up on Thursday just to make sure the amount of pain he was in was normal and that I was doing the stretches right. All turned out good and he turned a corner that day and by Friday, he was back to himself, eating and not needing any Tylenol. By that point, I didn't wake him up at night (even though I wasn't supposed to let him go more than 6 hours in between stretches). Matty needed sleep and we needed sleep.

It's been one week and we go back again at 3 weeks post. He is doing much better and doesn't fight the stretches anymore.

Honestly, I had never heard of ties before and Dr Penn only checked his mouth when I asked him to. It was discussed on my IVF due date group as multiple infants had the same problem.

Pictures below from Pre, 1 week and 3 week Post Revision

UPDATE

At the 3 week followup visit, Matheson healed perfectly! No more stretches! Matheson can also now suck a pacifer and not loose suction when drinking his bottle.