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