Tongue tie Frenectomy for 4 year old without general anesthesia?
Hi my 4 year old son who has a tongue tie since born but never had any issues with breastfeeding, so his pediatrician told us that we didn’t need to do anything with it. A few days ago, his new dentist told us that he has a severe tongue tie that will likely impede his jaw development. He already has a cross bite and his dad also has a cross bite. Coincidentally his preschool teacher told us a couple of weeks ago that she is concerned with his annunciations and suggested us to take him to see a speech therapist. Combined the two feedbacks, now I am seriously looking for a Dr. to get him evaluated. It turns out it’s very difficult to find a dr. that can perform this procedure in the office once they are over 1 year old. They all require general anesthesia.
Any recommendations for a doctor that can perform a frenectomy without general anesthesia? Much appreciated!
Parent Replies
Have you contact Dr. Yazdi's office in Castro Valley yet? He's an expert in frenectomy, and while he's a nutty Dr., he is absolutely the best! They have an infant frenectomy center, where we got our son's done after two failed procedures at an ear nose and throat Dr., and it seems like even if they don't do the procedure for older kids there, they might be able to make a recommendation for your case. http://www.dryazdi.com/frenectomy.html
My advice is to do the appropriate procedure for the condition, even if it means a brief general anesthetic. If you try to fix the problem with a lesser intervention (and risk traumatizing him in an office setting while awake), that's 2 bad outcomes. In an otherwise healthy kid, the risks of general anesthesia are far less than putting him in the car and driving him on the freeway (just to give one example, to help put it in perspective). However, make sure he's cared for in a Pediatric OR with a Pediatric Anesthesiologist, like at Children's Oakland or UCSF Mission Bay. Best of luck!
General anesthesia is much safer than it was 25 years ago. It might be more traumatic for your child to get intra-oral local anesthetics than a short acting general. Ask the physician doing the procedure what they use - don't force him/her to do something they are unfamiliar with. Your dentist may have a recommendation for a surgeon.
I agree with the poster who suggested you have the procedure done under general anesthesia. It will be a very quick and safe procedure, and for your son to have this procedure while he is awake would certainly be extremely painful and traumatic. I do hope you reconsider.
Both my kids had surgeries at Children’s in Oakland, and I recommend the anesthesiologists and ENT doctors there highly. I’m sure UCSF is a great option, too. I do think pediatric hospitals are the safest options for children’s surgery and anesthesia; I would strongly advise against an adult facility.
Thanks for your responses. I called Dr. yazdi’s office and they told me they only treat infants now. I also read about Dr. Robert Wesman from this site who was the head of the ENT at Oakland children’s hospital and obviously would do the procedure in his office while chitchatting. But I called the office and was told he is retired 5 years ago and now general anesthesia is required for young kids. Still searching.
I recommend getting a second opinion from another dentist and an official opinion from a speech therapist. Frenectomy is “in style” these days but the evidence is not conclusive that it’s necessary or that tongue tie contributed to the conditions it’s blamed for and I’ve found that some providers tout it as a solution to lots of different problems and others think it is unrelated. If she does need it, please consider anesthesia. It’s painful and expect post op pain in recovery as well as having to relearn to eat and speak for a few days. Sometimes they reattach as well. Agree with dr yazdi or cho ent