Ankyloglossia

Well, my son Jellybean is tongue-tied. His grandmother suspected this from birth, looking for it because she and Jellybean's uncle had the same condition. While he was still in the hospital we asked the doctor to check this, and he said that everything was all right. As he got older, we began to notice that he never stuck out his tongue, not even to lick his lips. Confirmation of the condition came shortly after he turned a year old, at a free clinic the state periodically offers. A short while ago, Jellybean did start sticking out his tongue. It looks cute to me, but the tip of his tongue is definitely not protruding, and since the sides do it gives his tongue a W-shape.

Just this past Friday we took Jellybean in for his 15 month check-up. The doctor (a different doctor than the one in the hospital) seemed unworried by the condition. He didn't even offer any advice on whether the condition should be corrected, other than we should choose reputable internet sites when we researched it ourselves. He does not perform the surgery himself, but one of the partners at the center does.

And so we have researched tongue-tie, also called ankyloglossia. That's been confusing. Either it is a condition that should be corrected at around 9 months or it should not be corrected until 4 years of age. Either it does or doesn't lead to difficulties with breast feeding, speech, and dental hygiene. (Jellybean never mastered breast feeding.) In the past the condition was routinely corrected at birth, but the current medical fashion seems to be to wait and see. Because the tongue keeps growing until 4 or 5, the condition may correct itself (according to most medical sites, but not all). The condition does not delay speech according to the recent medical literature, although folklore maintains that it does. It may lead to difficulties making some sounds, although again the more recent literature says children can usually compensate well for the condition. And insurance may not pay for it without an evaluation by a speech pathologist (since Jellybean is already past the stage where they would pay for it to enable breast-feeding). Lastly, the procedure differs for the very young (under 2) and for the older (over 4). For the young it may be simply a cut under the tongue; later in life it is a surgery requiring general anesthesia and use of techniques to prevent scar tissue from forming. No one seems to dispute that the condition runs in families.

All in all, I don't know what we'll end up doing.