What exercises are done after a frenectomy?
Answers:
In many cases, a patient can immediately thrust his or her tongue much farther out of the mouth. The sutures are removed in about a week and it is very important for the patient to routinely perform tongue stretching exercises after the lingual frenectomy surgery. This helps assist the tongue with healing and exercises the muscles that previously were not being used.
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Children should be assessed by a speech-language pathologist prior to tongue tie surgery. Some require pre-operative exercises, and most require post-operative exercises under a speech-language pathologist's supervision.
The purpose of post-operative exercises
Post-operative exercises following tongue-tie surgery are not intended to increase muscle-strength, but to:
Develop new muscle movements, particularly those involving tongue-tip elevation and protrusion, inside and outside of the mouth.
Increase kinaesthetic awareness of the full range of movements the tongue and lips can perform. In this context, kinaesthetic awareness refers to knowing where a part of the mouth is, what it is doing, and what it feels like.
Encourage tongue movements related to cleaning the oral cavity, including sweeping the insides of the cheeks, fronts and backs of the teeth, and licking right around both lips.
Exercises
Discuss these suggested exercises with YOUR child's speech-language pathologist before commencing them. The SLP will modify them according to your child's age and requirements. Encourage oral play generally, and do a selection of the following exercises, in any order, in 3 to 5 minute bursts, once or twice daily for 3 or 4 weeks post-operatively. Have a torch and hand-mirror handy. Make it fun.
Stretch your tongue up towards your nose, then down towards your chin. Repeat.
You can vary the exercise above and make it more interesting by putting a dab of food in various positions above the top lip, to be retrieved with the tongue tip (You could call this game "Elephant Tongue" and read books about elephants (e.g. "Babar") to stimulate your child's interest in playing the "tongue games" spontaneously at other times - not just when you are there.
Open your mouth widely. Touch your big front teeth with your tongue with your mouth still open. Can you FEEL how tough your teeth are?
Look in the mirror. Still with your mouth open wide, say dar-dar-dar, now say nar-nar-nar, now say tar-tar. Look in the mirror to see what your tongue is doing. Can you FEEL where it is?
Lick your whole top lip from one side to the other.
Now go back the other way.
Lick your whole bottom lip from one side to the other.
Go back the other way.
See how many times you can lick your lips right around.
Poke your tongue out as far as it will go.
Shut your mouth and poke it into your left cheek to make a lump.
Do the same on the other side.
Now see if you can make your top lip fat without opening your mouth.
Can you go in-out-in-out-in-out with your tongue? (demonstrate)
Put your tongue behind your teeth and shut your mouth. Can you find your big top teeth with your tongue while your mouth is still shut? FEEL how tough your teeth are.
Play your own version of copy cats, Simon Says or Follow the Leader incorporating the preceding movements.
PLEASE - discuss these suggested exercises with your child's speech-language pathologist before implementing them. They may not be necessary or appropriate for your child.
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