What Does A Baby Lip Tie Look Like?

As a follow up to my previous post, I would like to share with you a close up view of what exactly a lip-tie is, and why it has the potential to affect your baby or toddler in a big way.

Lip-ties happen when the piece of tissue behind the upper lip is too short and tight, limiting the upper lip’s movement. This tissue is called the maxillary labial frenum, and unless it has caused a problem for you at some point in your life, you've probably never given it a second thought! You can feel yours if you run your tongue between your upper lip and the top of the gum.

Similarly to tongue-ties, lip-ties can cause feeding difficulties when a baby can’t get their lips around the nipple and upper portion of the areola. However, there are MANY more reasons why lip ties can cause issues for your baby or toddler.

Some additional examples of the difficulties lip-ties can cause for your toddler include:

➡️ Speech difficulties

➡️ Poor oral hygiene

➡️ Decay and inflammation of the gums (gingivitis)

In the case of 1 year old Kelsie, her mother Kristen was particularly worried about tooth decay - after all, it’s hard getting even a small tooth brush to effectively clean those front teeth.

The procedure to release her lip-tie literally took five seconds. When I followed up that evening, Kristen said Kelsie was doing amazing! There was no pain and no bleeding (see photo 3/3!).

I love my Co2 laser, @lightscalpel, which is the tool I used to quickly and painlessly release the lip-tie. And yes, I use the exact same tool to release tongue-ties, and it works just as effectively!

It's important to note, that not all lip-ties need to be released. If you suspect that your child's lip or tongue-tie may be interfering with any of the issues discussed above, please do not hesitate to contact me for a consultation.