Mothers Symptoms

Most mothers experience the “baby blues,” which affect around 70-80% of new mothers for around a few weeks and then resolve. Postpartum depression is longer lasting and more severe and affects around 10% of new mothers, with frequent crying, fatigue, feelings of guilt and anxiety, and inability to care for the baby or yourself, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

You can also feel “numb to the world”, have mood swings, feel hopeless, feel easily frustrated, or have feelings of anger. There are several other types of PPD including postpartum anxiety, postpartum OCD, postpartum PTSD (traumatic birth), and even postpartum psychosis.

It’s not true. Switching to a bottle takes away the maternal aspect (pain, plugged ducts, supply issues, etc.), but it does not fix the infant issues of a poor latch, milk leaking out, reflux, excessive gas, colic, and slow feeding with possible weight gain issues.

• Scissors or scalpels are the least expensive hygienic option (no fingernails!) but have zero hemostasis (unless paired with a hemostat), and can often lead to an incomplete release.
• Electrosurgery (or cautery) has the benefit of hemostasis, but it is burning the tissue with electricity, and the thermal damage goes deeper than any other method, 1-2mm deep.
• The diode laser has more in common with electrosurgery than with non-contact lasers.
• Diode lasers do have excellent hemostasis and better hemostasis than erbium and CO2 lasers since it’s more akin to cautery using heat to sear the blood vessels and prevent bleeding.
• Non-contact or optical lasers (CO2 and Erbium), cut without touching the tissue, by the photon interaction with the tissue. This is the most efficient way to cut with a laser and takes about 5-15 seconds depending on the thickness of the tissue.

Here are the most common symptoms seen with a tongue-tie (tongue restriction).

Common Infant Issues:

• Painful nursing or shallow latch
• Difficulty bottle-feeding
• Slow or poor weight gain
• Reflux or spitting up often
• Excessive gassiness or fussiness as a baby
• Prolonged feeding time at the breast or on the bottle
• Milk dribbling out of the mouth when eating , Clicking or smacking noise when eating

Child to Adult Issues

• Frustration with communication
• Trouble with speech sounds, hard to understand, or mumbling
• Speech delay
• Slow eater or trouble finishing a meal
• Picky eater, especially with textures (e.g. meat, mashed potatoes)
• Choking or gagging on liquids or foods
• Spitting out food or packing food in cheeks
• Crooked, crowded teeth, or high arched palate
• Thumb or finger sucking or prolonged pacifier use
• Restless sleep (kicking or moving while asleep)
• Grinds teeth at night
• Sleeps with mouth open
• Snores (quiet or loud)
• Jaw joint (TMJ) issues (popping, clicking, or pain)
• Frequent headaches or neck pain
• Mouth breathing during the day
• Enlarged tonsils and/or adenoids
• Recurrent ear infections
• Frequent sinus issues/upper respiratory infections
• Hyperactivity or inattention

When the lip tie is properly removed (not just a clip or snip with scissors), the gap closes up almost always (94% of the time). It at the very least decreases in size, typically to a normal width that is much more likely to close spontaneously in the future.

Most of the time, the restricted tongue is less obvious and attaches less than 50% of the way to the tip. Those would be considered “posterior” ties, which some like to say “don’t exist” but in fact can cause the same range of symptoms as a to-the-tip tie.

For nursing babies, most of the time the babies and moms reporting the most painful latches are less obvious, posterior ties. And the pain resolves after release. Posterior tie means the tie is behind and not obvious and anterior means it is more attached toward the tip of the tongue.

The tongue-tie was treated in about 5 seconds, and the lip-tie was treated in about 15 seconds with just a numbing jelly. No general anesthesia or sedation.

Patients get back for follow-up for three main reasons:

• To see what happened.
• To help the patient if any issues still exist.
• Continuous improvement, so we can do better for each patient.

Tongue tie, lip tie, and buccal tie are oral restrictions present at birth that restrict the normal movement and function of the tongue and mouth.

Research shows that up to 10 percent of babies are born with an oral restriction and up to 25 percent of nursing infants can be affected by shallow latch caused by this condition.

The 3 types of oral restrictions are tongue tie (under the tongue), lip tie (under the upper lip) & buccal tie (inside the cheeks).

• A tongue tie is when the band of tissue connecting the tongue to the bottom of the mouth is too short, too thick, or too tight, restricting the tongue’s normal range of motion. Ankyloglossia is the medical term that refers to a restrictive lingual frenum. This is the most common form of oral restriction.
• A lip tie is when the tissue connecting the upper lip to the gum is too stiff or too thick, preventing the upper lip from moving freely. This condition is less common than tongue tie, yet more prevalent than a buccal tie.
• A buccal tie refers to tissues that attach the inside of the cheeks to the gums, restricting normal movement. This condition is less common than a tongue or lip tie.

Tongue tie is hereditary and often passed down from one generation to the next. During the normal development of a fetus in the womb, tissue forms to anchor the tongue to the base of the mouth. In most cases, this tissue naturally dissolves to a small, flexible tether around the 12th week of pregnancy. In some fetuses, this tissue does not dissolve, leaving a “left-over” tie that is especially short, tight or thick, which can restrict normal tongue movement. A lot of premature babies have an oral restriction because they were born before the tissue separated adequately in utero.

Although much more research is needed to better understand the cause of oral restrictions, there is growing evidence that points to a genetic link, specifically one known as the MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) mutation during the development of a fetus in the womb. It is often present in babies who are born with birthmarks known as “stork bites.”

In babies, an oral restriction can lead to complications with breastfeeding. The lack of tongue mobility can impair their ability to properly latch, suck, and swallow. This is why many oral restrictions are discovered and diagnosed due to difficulties with breastfeeding. It’s a great idea to check for oral restrictions in a baby if its breastfeeding mother has mastitis symptoms, decreasing milk supply, or clogged ducts.

If an oral restriction is not diagnosed or treated at an early stage, it can influence a range of health problems over the course of a lifetime. If ignored or never diagnosed, it can lead to a cascade of developmental issues in the mouth and even in the rest of the body. Many clinical specialists in this field suspect that oral restrictions are related to serious, chronic conditions such as sleep apnea, asthma, heart issues, mental health problems, and acid reflux causes.

Many parents are concerned about ADHD symptoms in kids, and wonder about the cause of ADD in children. Few would consider that an oral restriction could be a part of the problem. Yet medical professionals are looking into possible links between oral restrictions and attention deficit disorders due to the way this condition affects breathing and sleep.

The term oral dysfunction encompasses a broad array of conditions that impair the normal and healthy function of the face and mouth. Orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMDs) can affect people of all ages, from newborns to senior citizens, for a variety of reasons. Whatever the root cause, orofacial disorders interfere with the function of the muscles of the face and mouth.

If you have oral dysfunction you may experience difficulty moving the jaw, lips, cheeks, or tongue. This can have disastrous effects on your physical and mental health.

Oral dysfunction is deeply intertwined with feeding issues, speech issues, and airway obstructions.

Feeding issues: healthy digestion requires efficient chewing and swallowing. This depends upon seamless coordination between muscles in the face, mouth, and throat.

Speech issues: if you have difficulty controlling your lip, mouth, tongue, and jaw muscles, it can lead to speech problems. Dysarthria is a type of speech disorder related to weak muscles or challenges coordinating the muscles of the face and mouth.

Airway obstruction & sleep issues:  behavioral and learning difficulties are often misdiagnosed as ADHD or hyperactivity. In many cases, the root cause is an oral dysfunction that affects airway function and causes sleep-disordered breathing.

The function of your face, mouth, and throat is a big deal. Your orofacial health affects your sleep, memory, ability to communicate, learn, grow, and even your mood and emotions. Unfortunately, millions of people live with oral dysfunction and don’t even know it.

Functional problems span everything from poor chewing habits and bad posture to full-blown obstructive sleep apnea and sleep disordered breathing. Sleep and airway issues have been linked to serious diseases such as diabetes, heart problems, dementia, anxiety, depression, behavioral issues, insomnia, and more. The good news is that there is a lot you can do to improve your airway and your overall health.

There is no doubt that breastfeeding is the best way for babies to get the nourishment they need for optimal development. But the benefits don’t stop there. The muscle patterns used for breastfeeding actually influence orofacial development, speech and language, airway health, sleep and much more. The complexities of breastmilk and breastfeeding are just beginning to be understood.

Breastfeeding research continues to explore the remarkable biochemical, physiological, and emotional relationship between mother and baby and the astounding properties of breastmilk itself.

Ideally a tongue-tie should be diagnosed by a tongue-tie physician, who specializes in assessing and treating such condition.

However, they may use simple assessment tools to identify tongue restrictions and put a plan in place to adjust positioning and attachment of your baby at the breast, in case you and your baby are having problems breastfeeding.

This procedure has the potential to improve your baby’s tongue mobility. This will also allow a gradual improvement of your breastfeeding experience with reduced symptoms for you and your baby, including reflux and wind. Consistent improvements may be seen after 2 to 4 weeks in certain cases.

The most common problem caused by the lip and tongue tie creates difficulty in breastfeeding. But if it remains untreated for extended periods, it can cause serious complications such as speech problems and problems while chewing or swallowing food. Moreover, children with a lip tie or tongue tie might have a noticeable gap in the front two teeth or can have gum recession. Lip and tongue ties also lead to problems like tonsils, adenoids, airway issues, headaches, etc.

The mobility of the tongue is very important during breastfeeding, both for the mother and the baby. A baby with a tied tongue may not be able to latch deeply onto the breast, past the nipple onto the areola. This compresses the nipple onto the hard palate in the baby’s mouth, leading to nipple pain and skin breakdown for the mother. A tongue tie often accompanies a high palate, which also decreases the suction and further reduces milk transfer.

Babies with ties may not maintain a latch for long enough to take in a full feeding, while others may remain attached to the breast for long periods of time without taking in enough milk. Some infants will feed only during the mother’s milk ejection reflex, or “let-down” when the milk ejects more freely, but won’t continue to draw milk out of the breast when this slows. Bottle feeding allows milk to drip into the mouth without effort, thus requiring less tongue muscle effort than is needed for breastfeeding.

An infant’s inability to breastfeed often results in the mother giving up breastfeeding entirely, while being told that the problem is her fault. In reality, the problems may actually result from restricted tongue and upper lip attachments – making normal function, mobility and breastfeeding difficult or impossible.

1. To help relieve the pain of breastfeeding and regain healthy nipples and breasts
2. To stimulate milk production and make breastfeeding more successful
3. To help achieve satisfactory bonding between a mother and her baby
4. To ensure adequate feeding and growth of the baby
5. To avoid serious long-term issues such as:
   • Poor jaw and palate development
   • Teeth spacing
   • Gum disease
   • Speech impairments
   • Mouth breathing
   • Sleep apnea

The thick membrane of the frenum is released with our Epic Diode Laser, a soft tissue laser the size of a pen. A soft tissue laser does not cut; it is more a “vaporization” of tissue that occurs with infrared light energy. There is very little discomfort with the laser and almost no bleeding. Lasers sterilize at touch and therefore have less risk of infection. The healing is very quick because the laser stimulates healing and regeneration of tissues.