Efficacy of tongue-tie excision in the treatment of childhood ankyloglossia: 8 years of experience in a single-center

Mehmet Uysal; Serkan Arslan

doi:10.5281/zenodo.7568801

Authors

Mehmet Uysal Department of Pediatric Surgery, Medical Faculty of Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University, Karaman, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1561-6601
Serkan Arslan Department of Pediatric Surgery, Medical Faculty of Dicle University, Diyarbakir, AZ 21000, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3456-9217

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7568801

Keywords:

Ankyloglossia, Breastfeeding, Childhood, Frenotomy

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to present the results of the frenotomy technique in conditions of ankyloglossia (tongue-tie) identified and cured in the first ten years of life.

Materials and methods: In this study, ankyloglossia cases operated on between April 2014 and March 2022 in the Karaman Training and Research Hospital Pediatric Surgery Clinic were retrospectively reviewed. The number of patients included in the study age group was as follows; 0-90 days 180 (63.3%), 90-360 days, 76 (26.8%), 360 days-10 years 28 (9.9%).

Results: Frenotomy was carried out on 284 patients, 228 (80.3%) boys and 56 girls (19.7%) with tongue-tie between the ages of one day-10 years. The number of them included in the study age groups was as follows; 0-90 days, 180 (63.3%), 90-360 days, 76 (26.8%), 360 days-10 years 28 (9.9%). The patients were classified as 173 patients with type 1, 94 patients with type 2, 6 patients with type 3, and 11 patients with type 4 according to the Coryllos classification defined according to the examination findings. During frenotomy, no anesthesia was performed on the patients in Group 1, general anesthesia was administered to 10 of 48 patients in Group 2, and 11 of 14 patients in Group 3. At follow-up, all patients showed significant improvement in sucking and the baby’s nipple grip. Considering all patients, 54 (75%)of 72 mothers with nipple pain improved.

Conclusions: Frenotomy is a surgical procedure that may require general anesthesia and has few complications, especially in babies older than 3 months.

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