Pediatric Tongue- and Lip-Ties and Laser Frenectomies

Introduction
As many as 5-percent of all babies born in the US have tongue-ties significant enough to cause breastfeeding difficulties. Untreated tongue-ties may cause malocclusion, prognathism, mouth breathing and other issues later in life. The purpose of this course is to help clinicians better understand various aspects of pediatric laser surgery to treat tethered oral tissue (TOT) across all ages.

A good surgical laser for cutting soft tissue must be able to efficiently vaporize soft tissue, while at the same time efficiently coagulating surgical margins. Not all laser wavelengths are suitable to comply with both requirements. This course focuses on the practical aspects of soft tissue laser surgery, as well as on the fundamental processes involved in the laser-tissue interaction and helps attendees learn how deep the laser beam cuts and how deep the coagulation and hemostasis extend into the surgical margins. Our hands-on participation lab is designed to train attendees on what surgical lasers can do safely and efficiently.

Clinical Curriculum
With the renewed interest in TOT by both practitioners and the public, there should be an understanding of when the right time is to do a frenum release. Practitioners should recognize that a change in one area of the body, such as a frenectomy, can create a change in the whole body and it is important to understand the impact of this procedure as well as how a team approach is in the best interest of the patient.

The instructors believe that that to be successful with frenectomies, it is vital to address both the cause and compensations, as tongue- and lip-ties may signal a more global issue. The course will elucidate the following:

Clinical signs of TOT
Current diagnostics utilized for identification of TOT;
Global issues often associated with tongue and lip ties;
Ways to evaluate a patient’s level of readiness for frenum release;
Ways to incorporate myofunctional and osteopathic therapy with releases; and
Consequences and benefits of using lasers to remove oral restrictions.
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