Tongue-tie (ankyloglossia) is a congenital condition that restricts the tongue's range of motion. With tongue-­-tie, an unusually short, thick or tight band of tissue (lingual frenulum) tethers the bottom of the tongue's tip to the floor of the mouth.   A child who has tongue-­-tie can have difficulty sticking out their tongue or touching it to the roof of their mouth. Depending on the degree of tongue-tie it can also affect the way a child eats, speaks, swallows and it may interfere with breastfeeding. In addition tongue-tie can impair the proper growth and development of the palate as well as the function and formation of the jaw - both mechanically and aesthetically.

   

The first goal of the chiropractor is to determine the degree of tongue-­-tie and how it affects proper function and development. The most common symptoms parents will note in their child include: difficulty lifting the tongue to the upper teeth or moving the tongue from side to side, trouble sticking out the tongue past the lower front teeth, the tongue appears notched or heart shaped when stuck out, nursing or sucking issues, constant drooling, difficulty swallowing, and digestive issues such as colic or reflux (due to sucking air during nursing because of an improper or incomplete ability to latch). In older children speech issues, gaps or spaces between their lower or upper front teeth, complaints of tongue discomfort or the inability to get their tongue to reach their back teeth are common.