Tongue-Tied: How a Tiny String Under the Tongue Impacts Nursing, Speech, Feeding, and More

by Richard Baxter, Megan Musso, Lauren Hughes

Chances are, you or someone you know is affected by a tongue-tie. Common, yet little understood, tongue-ties can lead to a myriad of problems, including difficulty when nursing, speaking or eating. In the most crucial and formative parts of children’s lives, tongue-ties have a significant effect on their well-being. Many parents and professionals alike want to know what can be done, and how best to treat these patients and families. And now, there are answers. How a Tiny String Under the Tongue Impacts Nursing, Feeding, Speech, and More is an exhaustive and informative guide to this misunderstood affliction. Along with a team of medical specialists, author Dr. Richard Baxter demystifies tongue-ties and spells out how this condition can be treated comprehensively, safely and comfortably. Starting with a broad history of tongue-ties, this invaluable guide covers 21st-century assessment techniques and treatment options available for tethered oral tissues. Various accounts of patient challenges and victories are prominently featured as well. With the proper diagnosis and treatment, tethered oral tissues can be released with minimal discomfort, resulting in improvements during nursing, speaking, and feeding, while also reducing the incidence of dental issues, headaches, and even neck pain for children through adults. Aimed at both parents and professionals, Tongue-Tiedencourages those affected while providing reassuring and valuable information. Dr. Baxter and his qualified team have pooled their expertise to make a difference in the lives of people. Having examined and treated newborns to adults with oral restrictions since the early 1980s, I have never seen such a complete and thorough study of the subject. Dr. Baxter has covered it all! His own personal experience was a great motivator to make this book a must-read for parents, physicians, dentists, lactation consultants, and therapists of all kinds. Greg Notestine, DDS, AAACD Founding Member and Past Director, International Affiliation of Tongue-Tie Professionals (IATP) There can be no greater feeling than to see that I have been able to stimulate individuals like Dr. Baxter to add to the body of knowledge needed to educate the healthcare community as well as parents on the need to have tethered oral tissues evaluated for the many potential problems related to the tongue, which is not just a muscle, but a part of our body that can affect many of the body’s systems, infant growth and development, speech and much more. Congratulations on writing this excellent book. Larry Kotlow, DDS Pioneer and Expert on Tethered Oral Tissues Tongue-Tied is a revolutionary resource for parents, patients, and professionals alike. Such a detailed, comprehensive, and research-based resource has not existed until now! As a speech-language pathologist and certified orofacial myologist, this will be on the top shelf of my library and will be a resource I recommend to my colleagues, patients, and students. Thank you for filling this gap! Autumn R. Henning, MS, CCC-SLP, COM Founder, TOTS Training How refreshing to have a resource for parents and professionals based on clinical expertise and current research! Tongue-Tied is a straight-forward, no-nonsense approach to the influence of tethered oral tissues on both speech and feeding development. Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP Author of Adventures in Veggieland & co-author of Raising a Healthy Happy Eater As a surgical specialist and clinical researcher in the area of tethered oral tissues for close to 20 years, I have been waiting for a comprehensive text of this subject.

Genres: Health, Parenting, Nonfiction, Medicine, Medical

344 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 13, 2018

About the author

Dr. Richard Baxter, DMD, MS is a board-certified pediatric dentist and board-certified laser surgeon. He lives in Birmingham, AL with his wife Tara, and twin girls, Hannah and Noelle. He is the founder and owner of Shelby Pediatric Dentistry and Alabama Tongue-Tie Center where he uses the CO2 laser to release oral restrictions that are causing nursing, speaking, dental, sleep and feeding issues. He had a tongue-tie himself, and his twin girls were treated for tongue and lip-tie at birth, so for him, this field is a personal one. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, reading, outdoor activities. Dr. Baxter also participates in many overseas dental mission trips and is currently working on several projects related to tongue-ties involving research and education. Find out more at Dr. Baxter's websites, Alabama Tongue-Tie Center and Shelby Pediatric Dentistry.

Reviews

[Tricia Garcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book did contain a lot of valuable information regarding TOTs and I learned a lot about this topic, however as an SLP I have a lot of concerns with the information that was given. For one, in the book, stuttering was defined as “slow or disrupted speech” and implied strongly that a tongue tie can cause stuttering, which is completely false. Slow and disrupted speech is a definition of a disfluency and yes possibly a tongue tie can cause a child’s speech to be slower with some disruptions at times (although we all disruptions), however, stuttering encompasses much more than that including primary characteristics (repetitions, prolongation, blocks) & secondary characteristics (eye blinks, head movements) as well as the emotional side such as negative reactions, frustration etc. Stuttering is an issue with the brain, not the mouth. Also it was expressed that speech related symptoms of a tie could be Apraxia. Again, very untrue. Childhood Apraxia of Speech is also neurological in nature and not caused by a tie of the tongue. If I was reading this as a parent, I would think my child’s stutter or CAS may be because of a tongue tie and that’s what I didn’t like about this book. Tongue ties are not the reason for every speech related issue and fixing a tongue tie will not cure everything.

[Cabracrazy18 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book after seeking out Dr. Baxter's care in treating my son's tongue tie.
Written by several people who are each professionals in their fields, what I imagine must be every aspect of tongue ties is at least touched on, if not thoroughly explained. The information is presented in a very accessible and easily understood voice, and is heavily referenced. Each chapter is concluded with the relevant research and there are ample case studies provided.
This book helped me better understand my son's tongue tie, the procedure to release it and what to expect for aftercare. It helped me confirm that releasing his tie was the right decision for us. I highly recommend this book for anyone who suspects their child's (or their spouse's or their own) life could be affected by an oral tie, but it is absolutely a MUST READ for midwives, pediatricians, ENTs, dentists, lactation consultants, and all manner of medical professionals. Having my son's tongue tie revised took my nursing pain from a 9/10 to a zero and absolutely saved our breastfeeding relationship (not to mention any potential future problems we may have avoided). Any medical provider that is not up to date on the latest oral ties research, methods of diagnoses and best practices is doing a disservice to your patients and reading this book is a great start in the right direction.

[Cece Jacobs]

This isn’t necessarily a book you need to read from cover to cover, but it has some excellent information about how a teeny frenulum can affect everything from feeding, to speech, to muscle tension in infants.

My husband and I read parts of this before deciding to move forward with a frenectomy for our 5-week old and I’m so glad we did!

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of the profound impacts of tongue-ties, and other "tethered oral tissues" (TOTs), as well as treatment options. I appreciate that Dr. Baxter includes some references (and a brief chapter) on the effects of TOTs on adults, as well as babies and children (he's a pediatric dentist). I do wish there were more resources for adults out there, however!

[Anya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tongue tie is a missed diagnosed problem for a lot of children and adults. 1 out of 10 people have it. This book is an eye opener how unresolved tongue and lip ties affect so much in daily life from infancy to adulthood. It goes anything from thumb sucking, problems with nursing, lots of ENT issues to speech and feeding issues. We see many of the symptoms in our family and getting tongue and lip ties revised is crucial whether needing it to be done once or twice if first time was in infancy. This is a must read for any parent as so many problems can be avoided if fixed as early as possible.

[Laura Klier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accessible and informative! Also humble about the lack of knowledge on the subject.

[Lauren Fee]

This book was a really practically helpful guide to navigating tongue ties. My hope for it is that it will find its ways into enough practitioner hands that checking for possible tongue ties will become part of routine newborn health screenings and pediatric wellness visits. I also hope that further research can be done to confirm the findings that this author has found in his own practice and that consensus can be brought to this seeming gray area of medicine. I know my family and many others will benefit if so.

[Allison]

I read most of this, but skimmed some sections that seemed mostly written for providers. This book was was helpful after being told by my pediatrician that "no research on tongue-ties exits," and that the growing awareness is just a fad. While research is still limited, particularly on the effects that go beyond baby/childhood nursing, eating, and speech development, I found this book very clear, informative, and straightforward. The authors rely heavily on existing research along with some anecdotal evidence, and actively seek to contribute to such research. As happens when practitioners have a soap-box, it feels like they can get carried away sometimes, relating many issues to their pet topic (to the point that it feels excessive), but that is to be expected. Additionally, the formatting of the book was mostly helpful, but the contributions from multiple authors made it seem redundant in places.

All that said, this book was helpful for me in making a decision about my daughter's tongue-tie and how it could affect her current and future quality of life, particularly in view of family medical history.

[Ariana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to aid in my decision of whether or not to release my daughter’s tongue tie, and to be more informed as a professional (SLP). I learned a lot about tongue ties and how they may affect different areas of development and different surgical methods, but the book claimed to be a balanced, unbiased summary of the evidence, and it simply was not. There were studies presented, which was very useful, but there was basically no discussion of weaknesses of the studies or areas where evidence is weaker, and no real balanced discussion of why many providers believe there is not sufficient evidence to promote tongue tie release as a panacea for all nursing, speaking, head, neck, jaw, back issues (I’m somewhat exaggerating his stance to make a point, but still…). Anyway, long story short, it was a useful resource for me, and very accessible, but it was not as balanced or unbiased as it claimed to be.

[Micki Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative & Educational

I am an adult with a tongue tie that is about to be released. This book gave me great information on what to expect before, during, and after the procedure. It reinforced the struggles that I face with the tongue tie, such as migraines, neck & shoulder pain, mumbling, being soft spoken and difficult to understand verbally. It helped to explain my difficulty in cleaning my back teeth. I have learned that I compensate a lot by using many wrong motions and muscles when chewing, talking, & swallowing. I would recommend this book to anyone that has a tongue tie, a child with a tongue tie or any other loved one along with any professional that deals with the mouth.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish that I had this book back when my son was a baby. Even though I have educated myself quite a bit about tongue ties and their effects, I found this book to be wealth of information. I liked the format where the authors would explain the theory then give an overview of the research. I liked that the pointed to areas where further research would be helpful. Even though the book was at least written in part of practitioners, I found it accessible and easy to understand. I didn't get bogged down in the research, and I'm feeling more knowledgeable about a genetic issue clearly in my family.

[Chris Safranski · Rating 3 out of 5]

While The information provided was interesting and I believe it is a good resource for anyone interested in Tethered Oral Tissues, I felt the book was frustrating in its repetitiveness. Having different professionals involved in treating tongue tie issues is a good idea to provide a wide scope of insight into the issue, it resulted in countless redundancies. The 245 or so pages probably could have become 150-200 if some of the repetitiveness was removed by good editing. Worth reading if you’re interested in the subject and can ignore the repetitiveness.

[Samantha Shaffer · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a speech therapist, this book is very disappointing. There is nothing evidenced-based about this book, especially the speech section. It completely ignores the decades of high quality evidence that explains the diagnosis and treatment process for speech sound disorders. A child can have speech sound disorders with or without a tongue tie. A child can benefit from speech therapy and eliminate their speech impediment with evidenced based practices that do not require invasive surgery. Please please look at the other side of the tongue tie “debate” before making a decision!

[Scott Digiambattista · Rating 1 out of 5]

It should have been a small essay, but instead it is 200+ pages arguing tongue ties are bad, the only thing to do is cut them, and you need to hire a team of medical professionals to assess impact and do therapy. There’s no talk of alternative solutions nor any meaningful talk about myofunctional therapy for the layperson. The chapter dedicated to myofunctional therapy just tells you it’s useful and you should go see a myofunctional therapist.

[Kaelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I docked stars due to misinformation on stuttering and childhood apraxia of speech. These speech differences are much more complex than a physical tongue limitation and they originate in the brain. A tongue tie release will not fix a stutter. There’s still some good information in the rest of the book, but I wish the SLP’s they collaborated with had more knowledge on the neurological origins of these disorders.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and thorough on current thoughts about tongue tie. Several conclusions are made without lots of research behind them, but there is still a lack of research in this field, so he really did his best to find everything that exists and also covers best practices and clinical observation of the tongue tie community.

[Megan D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has a lot of interesting information and topics. A lot of the information is backed with clinical evidence from the author's clinical experience and I'd hoped for more broad research, but it sounds lile a lot of the research is still in beginning stages. Still worth the read for dental professionals, pediatricians, midwifes, lactation consultants, and anyone working with babies.

[Kelly Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great info…the writing is pretty gendered “mom” this and she/her that. There’s also a little subtle mother blaming when referring to head and neck restrictions that can ‘be cause by the way the mother is holding the infant’ (pretty sure many people can hold the infant). But otherwise, well researched with lots of got cases!

[Carrie Walter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a tongue-tie as does my husband and daughter and son. This book was very helpful and informative. Most people who have posterior tongue-ties (like we do) don't even know they have one.

[Maureen Pezzementi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reference book for healthcare professionals from all walks of life. A much overlooked reason for concern, tongue release procedures are a simple fix that can dramatically change lives.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish I knew about this years ago!

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very easy to read and a good overview of the tongue tie current situation. The writing style is familial and backed with research

[Shannon Blanchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This information needs to be known. Why isn’t this taught in dentistry and medical school!??? What an amazing eye-opening book! A must read.

[Liz Dion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, educational, and so eye-opening!

[Thebookfiend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of information

This book has a wealth of information and is a good read. For those interested to know more about ties, I recommend this book.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

An educational look into oral ties. Every parent should read this, oral ties impact so much more than breastfeeding. Highly recommend!

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned some new info about TOTs but was mainly concerned with the accuracy of the information and also bored.

[S R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bien con respecto a algunos capítulos. En otros, no es lo esperado o son de relleno.

[Kristin Nori · Rating 5 out of 5]

informative!

This book was So helpful in helping us prepare for our 6 week old to visit a specialist for revision of tongue tie!!!!!!

[Davina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read. Even though I’ve learned a ton about ties the past few years I still learned some new things. Great resource