While I haven't worked with mothers and infants with a tight labial
frenulum, I do have one myself, and I can tell you that it should have been clipped.
My mother nursed me until I was about 9mos, when I was weaned to cows milk.
Apparently, I was eating a lot of solids, too. She told me that it always
hurt to nurse me. Her nipples always looked "pinched" (her words) the entire
time she nursed me. She has told me that she had no such problems with my
little brother, born six years later. She described it as toe-curling pain
about 90% of the time, the rest of the time, it was just pain. I'm just glad
she nursed me for as long as she did.
To this day, it hurts to eat certain foods, I can't whistle, drinking from a
straw is difficult, and I have a significant gap in my front teeth from it.
I have been told that braces will not correct my gap, because as soon as the
braces come off, the teeth will be forced back to their old position by the
tight frenulum. My dentist offered to clip it for me, but warned me that it
would cause significant pain and bleeding, a long healing time, and would
change the way I smile if I did it now. At this time, the flap of skin is quite
thick. He has told me that had they known to clip these 30yrs ago, I should
have had it done, but the medical/dental community just didn't know enough
back then. Even now, few dentists know about this, and recognize the impact
of it, which is why I'm sure this mother has had the issues she's had with it.
In my personal experience, I wish it had been clipped way back when. I'm
still undecided about doing it now.
Sincerely,
Shannon Rittenhouse
LLL Leader, Virginia
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