Lip and Tongue Ties in Anchorage, Soldotna and Kenai, AK

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Lip-ties and tongue-ties can affect how children eat and speak, interfere with breastfeeding and impact the overall health of your child. Often, the condition resolves itself, but it can cause difficulties in the meantime.
At Alaska Dentistry for Kids, Dr. Coplin can assist with assessing and providing solutions for dealing with tongue-tie and lip-tie and difficulty breastfeeding.

Call us today at (907) 274-2525 to learn more about tongue-tie and lip-tie!

Basic facts for you

Lip and tongue ties can negatively impact a child's health and development. We offer advanced treatments to help patients breastfeed easily and ensure they get the nutrition they need.

Babies can be born with a tongue tie, which means the membrane connecting their tongue to the bottom of their mouth extends farther forward than usual. Other infants may have a lip tie: in this condition, the upper lip is closely attached to the gum line (there are four categories of lip tie, depending on the anatomy of the attachment).

In addition, lip ties usually decrease in size as a child grows older. However, both lip and tongue ties can restrict an infant's oral movement, which may render breastfeeding difficult for a baby, as well as being painful for the mother. Fortunately, there are treatments available.

Procedure and benefits

Here at our practice, we have years of experience in treating young ones who have lip and/or tongue ties by using a special laser. We're pleased to be able to say that this low-risk procedure can be done on an outpatient basis, so your child will only be away from home for a few hours. In addition, please be aware that our laser allows precise results with less bleeding, as well as offering a minimal risk of infection.

After treatment, your baby will likely be better able to nurse, so he or she can start gaining the weight needed to hit important developmental milestones. In addition, you won't have to worry about whether or not your child's lip or tongue tie will affect their ability to speak.