I’m a middle aged guy, who, a few years ago, was off handedly told by a dental hygienist while getting my teeth cleaned, that I was tongue tied. I’ve had a flap of skin under my tongue which holds it down, it isn’t severe, but it does restrict my tongues mobility. For instance, I can’t really stick my tongue out very far (causes issues for… certain… activities). And I can’t reach the back of my rear molars, something I’m told normal people can do with ease. But it isn’t a severe tongue tie by any means. I’ve also been told that when talking I use different mouth movements then other people for some words, I had no idea what that meant until I started working full time remote and was on camera all the time. I’ve seen out going video of my self and can spot the weirdness in talking that was referenced.
The dentist has painted this whole story about how my level of tongue tie prevented my palette from widening like it should have as a baby, resulting in a higher palette which pushed up into the sinuses, and also made my face more narrow then it would have been. Obviously, they can’t prove any of this, but it’s interesting to consider.
My dentist office has added a whole department dedicated to correcting tongue ties, and they push this very heavily. I’m just worried I’d regret having it corrected, but it sure would be nice to have more tongue mobility for the reasons I’ve described.
Are there any other Lemmings who are in a similar scenario to me? Did you go through with correcting the issue, did you like the end result, did you regret it? What was recovery time like?
I agree with the thoughts on second opinions. It sounds like you cope fine with your current situation already, and to be honest I’m skeptical much would change. At your age, the way you speak would be a very ingrained muscle memory thing. Maybe you could change it with some concerted effort but I suspect even with the surgery you’d still tend to speak the way you currently do.
I think the big argument for is more so that I can’t reach the back surface of my molars, so I can’t clean them like normal people do. The other thing I have trouble with is, and I will not mince words, is performing oral sex. I’m a straight guy, and the day after performing oral sex, I can feel a little spot on the flap under my tongue that tears a little from trying to stick my tongue out. It’s a pretty good indicator that being tongue tied is in fact reducing my tongues mobility in a bunch of ways.
I do agree with those saying to get a second opinion. Since my dentist literally built a whole facility dedicated to fixing tongue ties, I feel like they’re not going to be honest since they stand to benefit from it. But on the other hand, it causes me problems, and it can fix those problems. I’m quite torn, with any elective surgery, there is always the worry that I’d regret it.
I know from own experience that a short tongue tie makes it harder to become a cunning linguist.
My tongue tie scrapes on the lower teeth when sticking my tongue out. (I think my situation is a lot better than yours) Still, it might be more comfortable to have a doctor make a small incision instead of scraping and tearing it when things get steamy.
It sounds like we have a similar level of tongue tie! I can stick my tongue out, but not quite as far as I would be able to if it weren’t for the tongue tie. Yeah I’m leaning toward having it corrected, I had the dentist check what insurance would cover and I’d only have to color 180 out of pocket so that isn’t too bad.
Ah I see. Those do seem like issues it could improve. Hope whatever you decide works out well for you.