Anyone's kids have a frenectomy?

[mickeyboat]

DD7 went to the dentist yesterday for a cleaning / check-up, and her dentist is recommending we do a frenectomy and a retainer to close the space between her two front teeth. The retainer will be able to correct the problem in a matter of about 6 weeks.

Her adult canines have not come in yet (one baby tooth has come out, the other is loose), so he would like to do this fairly soon (in the next few months). He feels that if we do this now, the rest of her teeth will come in straight. And since her bite is not a problem, we will probably be able to avoid braces.

The dentist can do this in his office (the frenectomy and the retainer), which will also save us a ton of money!

Anyone have experience with this?

Denae

 

[noodleknitter]

I don't, but I'm curious. For someone so young, isn't that space of use when the rest of the teeth need space?

That would be great it it would work, though!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Hi!!! My dd needs one.

However it has been told to us that the frenectomy is done AFTER the teeth are closed.

Do not listen to your dentist.

And my DD's IS HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE.

An ortho will tell you that they want the scarring after the teeth are closed.

 

[DawnCt1]

I wouldn't do a thing until I consulted with an orthodontist.

 

[mickeysgal]

What is this???

 

[noodleknitter]

Where is Tiggersmom2 when you need her?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

It is the thingy that is inside your mouth...touch your tongue to the top toward your nose.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

To the OP...

Consult an ortho first. They used to do the frenectomy before correction (old way), now they do it after because the scarring pushes the teeth out again.

Now my dd's is very significant. It is totally attached to her gum.

So your case may be different, but I would consult orthos first before you listen to a dentist.

 

[tlens]

My 4 year old son had one done in February. His was for tongue tie however. Honestly, it was incredibly painful for him and he couldn't eat normally for a week. It healed completely in 3. If there are other options than the frenectomy, try that route first. Now, remember, my son's was the tongue, perhaps it's better on the upper palate. I also read that using lasers greatly reduce the pain and bleeding. (my son's wasn't laser).

My son had to go to an oral surgeon and we chose to have him sedated (SOOOO glad we did that). I don't regret having the surgery done (my son might have a differing opinion on that) but I wasn't prepared for the pain he experienced.

I agree with the others. See an orthodontist and if necessary an oral surgeon. Don't rush into this without exhausting all other option.

 

[mickeyboat]

Thanks for your imput.

Her tissue actually comes down low enough so that it is in between the teeth. There is no way the teeth will close unless the material is removed. The dentist hopes that if this is done and the teeth are moved before the canines come in, it will allow for the canines to come in straight. There is not enough room for them to come down the way things look right now.

The dentist is going to consult with his colleague and come up with a plan for us to review. He also said he recently did this procedure to another child, and I will ask for the results before we proceed. I will also ask about scarring. A trip to the ortho is also a possibility that I will consider if I am not comfortable with what I hear.

From what I have researched, there is very little pain involved with this particular procedure. I would imagine the one under the tongue would be a lot more painful.

 

[lovetoscrap]

My daughter (now 12) had one when she was in 2nd grade. She had a huge gap between her top front teeth and that mass of gums was very big. The dentist said that usually that (the frenium?) gets torn on its own when they are young by falling or getting hit by a ball etc. Hers never did.

We actually did braces on the front 4 teeth for about a year. Her space was so big and getting bigger and pushing the new teeth coming in out of alignment. We had been watching it for several years.

So after the braces helped we did the frenectomy because it would have just continued to push things back out if we didn't. I honestly don't remember much about it so it must not have been too bad! We did it in an oral surgeon's office. She was not put out, just "relaxed" and I think there were some mild pain meds for the rest of the day and maybe the next day but she recovered rather quickly and without a whole lot of trauma. Pretty sure she had disolvable stitches so it just healed on its own. As I recall I was way more nervous than she was!!

I do agree that you should consult with an orthodontist before doing it. Many offer an initial consultation for free or for a fee that is applied to future braces. All of what we did was done under the supervision of her orthodontist and also her dentist.

Oh, and I am pretty sure that our insurance covered this.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Thanks for your imput.

Her tissue actually comes down low enough so that it is in between the teeth. There is no way the teeth will close unless the material is removed. The dentist hopes that if this is done and the teeth are moved before the canines come in, it will allow for the canines to come in straight. There is not enough room for them to come down the way things look right now.

My 11yodd's is the same way. They do not recommend the frenectomy first anymore.

They prefer to close the gap first then do the frenectomy. It is due to scarring of the frenectomy. Consult orthos first.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Thanks for your imput.

Her tissue actually comes down low enough so that it is in between the teeth. There is no way the teeth will close unless the material is removed. The dentist hopes that if this is done and the teeth are moved before the canines come in, it will allow for the canines to come in straight. There is not enough room for them to come down the way things look right now.

.

This does sound exactly like the issue with my daughter. I just asked her what she remembers and she said it hurt for a day or 2, take the pain meds, but she doesn't remember it being too awful. And she is a big complaining baby so she would have whined if it was too bad.

 

[mickeyboat]

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if he wants to do the retainer before the frenectomy - maybe you are right MM - close the teeth and then remove the tissue. It made more sense to me at the time I was talking to him to remove the tissue first, so maybe that is what I remember.

I will definitely talk to him about it, though.

Denae

 

[Conservative Hippie]

My DD is only 10 months old, but I already know she is going to need one. She can't flange her upper lip at all, the tissue is all the way down between her teeth.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if he wants to do the retainer before the frenectomy - maybe you are right MM - close the teeth and then remove the tissue. It made more sense to me at the time I was talking to him to remove the tissue first, so maybe that is what I remember.

I will definitely talk to him about it, though.

Denae

Yep, that is what they want to do with dd as well.

However we have an added issue that my dd is missing her 2 canines.

Anyway I just wanted to make sure that your dentist was not doing things the "old way", because the ortho said there are issues with scarring and it can affect getting the gap to fully close.

 

[momof1princess]

this sounds like what my DD had done at age 3. the piece of tissue attached to the underside of her tongue was attached too far down the tongue (toward the tip) and her ped. said if we didn't have it cut, she'd most likely have a speech impediment. we had it done when she was 3, the day before thanksgiving and at thanksgiving dinner the next day she was fine, like it had never happened. i was amazed.

 

[MAKmom]

DD13 just had hers done with by an oral surgeon 3 weeks ago & braces were put on her top teeth only from eye tooth to eye tooth 1 week ago.

 

[noodleknitter]

this sounds like what my DD had done at age 3. the piece of tissue attached to the underside of her tongue was attached too far down the tongue (toward the tip) and her ped. said if we didn't have it cut, she'd most likely have a speech impediment. we had it done when she was 3, the day before thanksgiving and at thanksgiving dinner the next day she was fine, like it had never happened. i was amazed.

I think they mean on the roof of the mouth. One of my sons was tongue-tied, too.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

If you're interested, you can watch the procedure on youtube.

DD's dentist recommended a frenectomy (under tongue) when she was a few years old...said it would affect her speech...and I did a little research, consulted my pediatrician, and decided against it. For various reasons, we switched dentists (to a pediatric dentist, if that matters), and he didn't think she needed it. She's 17 now, heading off to college in a couple of weeks, and speaks fine. I'm not saying that NO ONE needs it...I'm just saying if there are any doubts, get a second opinion. (As I said, we switched dentists for various reasons, so we didn't feel that comfortable with him anyway.)