Influence of Ankyloglossia on Primary Functions

Abstract

The aim of this article is to capture the influence of shortened tongue frenulum (ankyloglosia) on primary functions such as breathing, sucking, swallowing, as well as on food activitiesbiting and chewing. The publication is a review and is an attempt to combine the available professional literature (national and world) on the above topic, as well as to discuss the conclusions from the cited studies. One of the paragraphs is devoted to several cases of children with ankyloglossia and its impact on primary activities in these children. The article also includes own reflections and considerations from the literature and case description discussed in the publication, children with shortened sublingual frenulum.

Evaluation protocol for frenotomy

“…Functional assessment [4,5,7,12,[18][19][20][21]23] -opinion of speech therapy: • normal tongue mobility -0 points; • slight limitation of tongue mobility -1 point:…”

“…Difficulties with swallowing, mastication, and biting due to abnormal tongue mobility. As a result, it is harder to prevent diet expansion (opinion of a speech therapist, a dentist, and a pediatrician) [2,3,7,8,12].…”

“…Articulation disorders associated with ankyloglossia and no improvement after speech therapy (opinion of a speech therapist with justification for frenotomy) [3,6,7,27,28].…”

“…Trying to overcome the difficulties associated with the limited motor functions of the tongue while sucking the breast, the child activates additional muscles of the masticatory apparatus. This causes the child to become tired and discouraged from sucking, and forces various types of co-movements, grimaces and parafunctions [1,4,6,7]. This adaptation to abnormal anatomical conditions results in secondary functional disorders and, consequently, in abnormal cra-niofacial development [8][9][10][11].…”

“…Therefore, it is important to take into account both anatomical and functional criteria when classifying ankyloglossia [5,6]. The speech therapy diagnostic protocol also tests the functions of the tongue, such as sucking, swallowing, biting, and chewing [7,11,12]. However, existing classifications are not always consistent, because they take into account different criteria or different parameters for the same feature [8,[13][14][15].…”