Pediatric Dentistry of Redlands

A lip tie is a dental problem where a thick piece of skin is attached abnormally resulting in mobility issues. While this procedure is more common than most think, for new babies it often goes undiagnosed. Without the proper procedure to fix the lip tie, it can cause immediate problems with breastfeeding, but it can also create long-term problems for your child. Dr. Fuller and his team think this goes undiagnosed primarily because of these 4 reasons.  Doctors, lactation specialists, and some dentists are not trained to diagnose this type of problem. There are still specialists who believe in waiting to take care of a lip tie in babies and feel they should wait to complete the procedure. Some new babies are difficult to nurse and therefore, a lip tie may get passed off as ‘normal’ breastfeeding problems. Being a brand new mom is stressful and consequently, with a baby struggling to nurse, they often look for problems in themselves ...

Thousands of babies are impacted every year by lip and tongue tie problems. When your baby is first born and you are searching for possible problems when breastfeeding, you may become depressed, think that it is a problem with you. But it may not genuinely be a problem with your body or with you at all. Lip ties can create an inability for your baby to latch on when breastfeeding. Even though this is a problem that thousands of babies face, doctors often miss this until there are months of frustrations and eventually you may even give up on breastfeeding altogether. Lip and tongue ties can be hard to diagnose. There is a natural tie that should occur between the lip and the gums. “This piece of skin should be thick but should allow natural movement in the mouth when your baby attempts to latch on,” explains Dr. Fuller. Determining whether your babies lip tie is too tight or is too thick can be difficult to see. Some doctors may want you to wait to see if...