Treating Tongue and Lip Ties With a Frenectomy in Canton, Ohio

What a Frenectomy Actually Releases

A frenectomy is a short procedure that releases a frenum — a small band of tissue that can restrict movement of the lip or tongue when it's too tight, thick, or positioned low. We only recommend the procedure after a proper tongue-tie evaluation or lip-tie evaluation confirms the restriction is genuinely interfering with feeding, speech, hygiene, or dental spacing.

Laser vs. Scissors Technique

Traditional frenectomies use small surgical scissors, and this method remains effective and quick. Many families now choose a laser frenectomy instead, which tends to produce less bleeding, less swelling, and a faster return to normal feeding or eating. We'll discuss which approach fits your child's age and the specific tissue involved.

Treating Infants vs. Older Children

Timing and technique shift depending on the child's age. In very young infants, the procedure is often brief enough to perform without anesthesia, and babies frequently nurse comfortably again within the same day. Older children usually receive local anesthetic first, and the visit is paced to keep them calm and informed throughout.

What Improves Afterward

For infants, families often notice a better latch, less clicking during feeding, and reduced nipple discomfort for breastfeeding mothers within days. For older kids, improved tongue or lip mobility can support clearer speech sounds and easier oral hygiene, though speech gains sometimes need a few sessions of practice to fully show up, especially if the child compensated for years before treatment.

What Happens at the Appointment

The procedure itself is brief, often just a few minutes. We isolate the area, release the restrictive tissue, and check that the site looks clean before sending you home with clear instructions. Because it's minimally invasive, most families are surprised by how quick the whole visit feels compared to what they expected walking in.

Healing and Stretching Exercises

The days right after treatment matter almost as much as the procedure itself. We show parents simple stretching exercises to perform at the healing site a few times a day, which prevents the tissue from reattaching as it heals and locks in the improved range of motion. Mild discomfort for a day or two is normal, and most children return to regular feeding or eating quickly. A short follow-up visit lets us confirm everything is healing the way it should.

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry supports frenectomy as an appropriate treatment when a tongue-tie or lip-tie is clearly limiting function, which is why we pair every procedure with a careful evaluation beforehand.

Coordinating Care With Other Providers

A frenectomy rarely happens in a vacuum. When feeding is the concern, we welcome input from a lactation consultant who has already been observing latch and milk transfer at home, since their notes often sharpen our own findings. For older children working on speech sounds, a speech-language pathologist may recommend the procedure or want to build a therapy plan around it once healing is complete. Bringing these providers into the conversation, rather than treating the frenectomy as an isolated event, tends to produce steadier progress.

If your child already sees an orthodontist for early planning, we're also glad to share findings, since a tight lip frenum can sometimes influence the gap between the front teeth that an early orthodontic assessment would otherwise track separately.

Weighing the Cost of Waiting

Families sometimes ask whether it's fine to simply hold off. For infants with a significant feeding restriction, delaying can mean weeks of frustrating nursing sessions, slower weight gain, or a mother giving up breastfeeding earlier than she wanted to. In older children, an untreated restriction that's truly limiting movement can make certain speech sounds harder to correct even with therapy, since compensations become more ingrained the longer they're practiced. None of this means every tie needs urgent treatment — plenty don't — but a delayed evaluation can quietly extend a problem that a short visit might have resolved.