I’m tongue tied. Not too terribly bad. I can stick my tongue out a little bit, basically I can only lick my lips. Thats about it.
What is involved in ‘untying’? Should I go to a doctor and have them do this? When I try to stick out my tongue it hurts the bottom part, where I’m assuming they would cut to fix this. Its been bothering me as of late.
So the question is:
Am I missing out?
Are there any dangers in getting it done?
Who has experience with this? <— ( interested in these people.)
Will I benefit?
Is there a particular type of doctor you to go for this?
(I know the board is not a medical institution, I’m just hoping for some answers. I like the anonymous forum approach that going to a doctor doesn’t provide.)
Thanks!
P.S. Sorry about spelling and grammar. I’m a pretty tired.
Being tongue-tied means that the frenulum (also known as the frenum - both fancy words for “little flap of skin”) that connects your tongue to the floor of your mouth extends further out onto the tongue than is usually the case, so your tongue is less mobile than average. This is fairly easy to fix - a doctor would just snip the frenulum and there you go. The tricky part is that you need something to kill the pain.
If it’s not bothering you, there’s no reason to have it snipped. It’s typically done either to very new babies who are having trouble nursing because of the tie, or to somewhat older children who have speech problems because of it. One of my nephews had to have it done because he couldn’t pronounce “r” and “l” properly. If I remember correctly (and that’s a big if), he went to an ENT, and it was done in the office with a local anesthetic. Afterwards he started working with a speech therapist, and today the problem is gone.
I’ve never heard of an adult getting a tongue-tie cut - not saying it doesn’t happen, but they didn’t teach us about it in linguist school.
Incidentally, you were born with two other frenulums in your mouth, one connecting each lip to the gum. It’s very common to tear one or both in childhood accidents.
Hello, strange but true – the only surgery I’ve had in my whole life was to deal with just this. I think I was about 25 years old when I went to hospital, can’t even remember if I stayed overnight but I think I did. Incredibly straightforward operation. Again, I think I had a general anaesthetic. Also recall a couple of nurses wanting to take a look beforehand because it was a rare complaint. To answer you directly:
Am I missing out? – don’t know. Does it affect your speech, your social confidence, missing out on what ?
Are there any dangers in getting it done? – it’s a 3 minute job. If the surgeon accidentally stabs you in the eye, yep it’s dangerous, otherwise not at all.
Who has experience with this? <— ( interested in these people.)
Will I benefit? Again, depends on the degree of tied-up-ness. Mine was not too serious, got it done because it’s free in England so why not. To be honest, the only real benefit I got was being able to make a slightly enhanced contribution in matters carnal.
Is there a particular type of doctor you to go for this? – very, very basic general surgery.
Patience is a virtue. The SDMB isn’t some intellectual ATM where you can get answers instantly.
Anonymity or not, medical questions are best answered by medical professionals. While there are MDs and RNs among our ranks, it is foolish to think that any of us can give to the kind of answers that you want. See your doctor.
http://www.medicine.net is a good source for instant general medical info. They say “Although this frenulum has been clipped innumerable times to ‘free the tongue,’ in truth it is rarely the cause of poor eating or speech delay.” In other words, surgery is generally uneccessary.
Don’t make us angry. You wouldn’t like us when we’re angry.
What specifically are you complaining about? You got several (trying to be helpful) cogent answers re solving your “tounge tied” condition prior to your complaint about “no helpful info”. Free advice is worth what you pay for it. See a doctor.
I once read somewhere that some people are only capable of rolling their tongue (but not sticking out their tongue all the way), while others are able to stick out their tongue all the way to the tip of their nose, yet they’re not able to roll their tongue. I guess I’m more like you (that’s if you are able to roll your tongue).
I waited 3 days for responces. That seems like a fair amount of patience. A doctor can’t get me the stories from others who were affected. That was more of what I was looking for not the <------- nuff said.
I think what Thought is not taking into account is that fewer people post on the weekends. I would almost guarantee you will see more responses today - but I also think you got as muc info as you are likely to get here. We are a cautious bunch when it comes to medical situations.
Thought, you started bitching less than 24 hours after your OP. And in that time you actually got an answer. Then you followed your complaint with a “woe is me for not getting an answer.”
Astro’s right. Free advice is worth what you pay for it. Nobody owes you an answer here. People respond because they want to. If you start throwing a tantrum and accuse us of not being helpful, no one will want to answer you.
That’s not a threat, that’s just the way the universe works.
Boy, I never take medical advice from the net. A surgeon whos speciality is this, like an Ear Nose & Throat one, would give be the person to talk to, not us.