Tongue Tie Post-Surgery Guide

Our skilled dentists in Annapolis, Maryland, and our team provide post-op instructions to help you heal and recover following your tongue tie release procedure. Follow these instructions closely, as they are designed to help you regain your oral health and improve your oral function. If you have any questions or if you want to schedule your appointment with Dr. Gena Schultheis and associates, please call Divine Dental at 410-224-4500.

We recommend that you do the following exercise routine five times per day for three weeks following your procedure, beginning the evening following your surgery. At the fourth week after your surgery, reduce the frequency of the exercises down each day before stopping them completely at the end of the fourth week. For example, by the end of that week, you should be performing just one exercise each day.

Please remember to wash your hands or have your child wash their hands before doing these exercises, and dip the hands in coconut oil, vitamin E oil or sesame oil.

The Upper Lip

1. Place your finger under the lip and move it as high as it will go.
2. Sweep from side to side for one to two seconds.

The goal of this exercise is to prevent the raw, opposing surfaces of the lip and gum from re-adhering by inserting your finger between them.

The Tongue

1. Insert both index fingers into the mouth from behind.
2. Use both index fingers to dive under the tongue.
3. Place your finger at the base of the fold and pull straight back.

The tongue needs three separate stretching motions:

• Exercise 1: Place your fingers deep, and pick the tongue up as high as it will go towards the roof of the mouth. Hold it there for one to two seconds and release. This exercise aims to unfold the diamond so that it is almost flat in orientation.
• Exercise 2: Hold your tongue up with one finger and place the other finger in the middle of the diamond of the wound. Turn your finger sideways, lift and swipe.
• Exercise 3: Massage outside of the diamond on either side with more pressure than when on the wound (exercises 1 and 2 require light pressure). This will loosen the musculature in the floor of the mouth.

We have found that the best time to perform these post-op exercises on your child is immediately before or after a diaper change in younger children or in between meals if your child is older. We suggest that you avoid doing these exercises immediately before or after a meal or feeding.

Please feel free to call our office if you have any questions.