When lectureing to professionals, I always make sure to use the technical
term for tongue tie, which is ankyloglossia. My definition of ankyloglossia
is "a shortened frenulum, where the tongue tip is tethered to the bottom of
the mouth, the sides wing up, but the tongue tip is unable to protrude to the
back of the front teeth. It is fequently hereditary.  Only 1/4 inch of tongue
tip elevation is thought to be necessary for functional speech. " At this
point I throw in some of my personal anecdotal stories of how babies with
tight frenulums breastfeed so much better after the frenulums have been
released, and how the parent with the tight frenulum has horror stories about
years of speech therapy and being unable to lick an ice cream cone, etc. I
also would talk about pseudoankyloglossia, the technical word for  where the
tongue is thickened and shortened and may look heart shaped, and the frenulum
may look shortened because of thickened muscle fibers.  This is associated
with abnormal muscle tone, and occurs in individuals with degenerative
 muscle diseases (rarely seen in newborns, but noted in cases of such tragic
diseases as Infantile Spinal Muscular Atrophy) or Central nervous system
dysfunction such as CP.  When speaking, I always stress the importance of
looking at a baby as a whole person, and doing a thorough infant assessment
of tone, reflexes, postures, state behavior, etc, to make sure I don't miss
something else, and then  I go on the the breastfeeding assessment.
     I found these definitions from an oral- motor course given by Debra
Beckman, MS,CCC-SP a speech therapist in Florida.

Good Luck!

Debbie Rabin, OTR, CLC
Los Angeles, CA