Lingual Frenulum (tongue tie) Surgery

Since I was already in the office I decided I should just go right ahead and get the surgery done. It was not like I woke up one morning and thought, well today I'm going to go get my lingual frenulum clipped. Shoot, surgery in my mouth sounds like a grand idea. Heck, I haven't even research the process of tongue tie surgery. All I have to say is . . . thank goodness this is a laser dentistry. No scalpels.

The operation procedure:

Simple put, it was done before I knew it began.

So . . . the procedure is done by an oral surgeon, outpatient surgery. Even though it is considered a major surgery, it was more painless than getting ear piercings or teeth cleaning for that matter. 

First, I got some local anesthetic. A small pinch under my tongue, barely felt it. Waited a few minutes. Then the doctor and his assistant walked over with this little laser machine. A suction to my mouth, laser safety glasses, and the cutting began.

No clamps, no scalpels, no stitches, no bleeding. The process took less than 10 minutes. I had my lower and upper lingual frenulum removed painlessly. No discomfort. I was able to talk and rinse my mouth out with mouthwash. No stinging. And I can touch the roof of my mouth! Heck, I can even swallow with my tongue to the roof of my mouth!

(I will post photos soon)

I was told I should not eat spicy food, no tacos, no hard food, and no straws for a week. I lasted 3 days.

The doctor prescribed 600mg of Ibprofene (which I didn't take) and 500mg of Amoxicillin to prevent infections. Post-Op appointment 2 weeks later.

Cost:

The procedure cost $550 (well worth the money)

Healing:

When the anesthetic wore off I felt normal. My tongue was a little stiff, but other than that, I felt no pain.

I forgot I was not to drink out of a straw or eat hard food. Not a good idea to try to eat a hamburger, that was painful. I ended up having to rinse my mouth with salt water a few times to clean out food particles under my tongue. But I always rinse my mouth with salt water every time after I ate.

Since I had a performance less than 24 hour after the surgery, I felt fine talking and singing for 3 hours straight.
48 hours after surgery, I was hiking 12 miles up Angels Landing at Zion NP.
62 hours after surgery, I was hiking 9 miles up the Grand Canyon.

No complications. It didn't even feel like I had surgery on my tongue. I even had 2 tacos and sucked water out from my CamelBak.

I felt my sunburn more than I felt my tongue.

After the surgery I did some research and I have to give it to my doctor for doing such a great job. I've heard of pain and bleeding and discomfort and swelling for several weeks after surgery. Maybe it was the laser, maybe it was the skills of my doctor, but I was fully recovered in a week. Dr. Atalii from Laser Dental is awesome!