Mint Hill Smiles

Dentist in Mint Hill, NC

Tongue Tie Release in Charlotte, NC | Mint Hill Smiles

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Tongue Tie Release in Charlotte, NC

Most people with a tongue tie have no idea they have one.

That sounds strange until you understand how common tongue ties actually are and how quietly they operate. A tongue tie (the clinical term is ankyloglossia) is a band of tissue called the frenulum that restricts the movement of the tongue beneath the floor of the mouth. In some people that restriction is obvious. In many others it is subtle, tucked posteriorly where a routine dental exam does not find it, and the symptoms it creates look so much like other problems that the connection is never made.

Breastfeeding difficulties in a newborn. A child who lisps or struggles with certain sounds into their school years. An adult with chronic jaw tension, neck pain, and a lifetime of grinding their teeth at night. Poor tongue posture that contributes to a narrow palate, crowded teeth, and an airway that does not function the way it should. In all of these cases, an undiagnosed tongue tie may be a contributing factor, and in all of these cases, identifying and treating it can change outcomes that patients have been managing or compensating for their entire lives.

At Mint Hill Smiles we evaluate and treat tongue ties in children and adults. It is part of our airway-focused approach to care and is based on our understanding of how oral function affects the whole body.

The Reality

What a Tongue Tie Actually Is

The frenulum is a band of connective tissue that attaches the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth. In a normal attachment, this band is thin, elastic, and positioned far enough back that it allows the tongue to move freely, to reach the roof of the mouth, to move laterally, to lift and extend. That full range of motion is not just useful for speaking and eating. It is essential for proper oral rest posture, where the tongue should sit lightly against the upper palate with the mouth closed and the airway unobstructed.

When the frenulum is too short, too thick, or attached too far forward, including in a posterior position that is not always visible without a careful functional evaluation, it limits that range of motion. The tongue cannot lift properly. It cannot reach the palate. It sits on the floor of the mouth instead, which over time influences how the palate develops, how the jaw grows, how the airway is shaped, and how the person breathes, speaks, swallows, and sleeps.

A lip tie or buccal ties, which are a tight or restrictive frenulum attaching the upper or lower lip to the gum, often co-occurs with tongue tie and carries its own set of functional consequences, particularly for infants who are breastfeeding.

How Tongue Tie Looks Different at Different Ages

The presentation of a tongue tie is not the same across the lifespan and this is one of the reasons it goes undiagnosed so frequently. What looks like a feeding problem in an infant and a speech delay in a four-year-old and chronic neck pain in a thirty-year-old can all trace back to the same structural restriction, but the connection is rarely made unless someone is specifically looking for it.

In infants and nursing babies: The most common presenting concern is breastfeeding difficulty such as a poor or shallow latch, painful nursing, an infant who fatigues quickly or cannot sustain a feed, poor weight gain, or a mother with significant nipple pain or damage. A tongue tie prevents the infant from achieving the full range of tongue motion needed for effective nursing. Many mothers are told their latch is wrong, or that they simply cannot breastfeed, when the actual issue is structural and correctable.

In toddlers and young children: Speech articulation difficulties, particularly with sounds that require the tongue to lift to the roof of the mouth, are a common sign. Feeding aversions, difficulty managing certain textures, and a tendency to push food forward or pocket it in the cheeks may also be present. As the child grows and adult teeth come in, tongue posture influences the arch width and palate development, contributing to crowding that often requires orthodontic treatment.

In older children and teenagers: Crowded teeth, a narrow high palate, forward head posture, and sleep-disordered breathing may all have a tongue tie component. Many children in this age group have been through orthodontic treatment that corrected the crowding without addressing the underlying cause, and the crowding returned after the retainers came out.

In adults: Jaw pain, tension headaches, chronic neck and shoulder tightness, TMJ symptoms, and poor sleep quality are among the most common adult presentations. Many adults also carry a lifetime of compensatory patterns such as speech adaptations, altered swallowing mechanics, and postural habits that developed around the restriction, that become apparent only when the restriction itself is identified and addressed. An adult tongue tie evaluation often feels revelatory to patients who have been managing these symptoms for years without a clear cause.

Why Myofunctional Therapy Is Non-Negotiable at Mint Hill Smiles

This is the part of the tongue tie conversation that separates thoughtful treatment from a quick procedure with disappointing results.

A tongue tie creates a structural restriction. But the body is adaptive, and over months or years of living with that restriction, the muscles of the tongue, jaw, face, and neck develop compensatory patterns. The tongue learns to move in alternative ways. Swallowing mechanics shift. Posture adapts. Habits form.

When the structural restriction is released, those compensatory patterns do not automatically disappear. The tongue has new range of motion but years of established muscle memory telling it to move the old way. Without therapeutic work to retrain the muscles and establish new movement patterns, the results of a release are often incomplete, inconsistent, or temporary. The frenulum can also reattach if proper stretching and movement are not maintained during the healing period.

This is why we require a referral to and active engagement with a qualified myofunctional therapist both before and after any tongue tie release we perform at Mint Hill Smiles. Before the release, myofunctional therapy prepares the muscles for the new range of motion they will have and begins establishing the correct patterns. After the release, it reinforces those patterns, supports healing, and ensures the functional improvement matches the structural correction.

We work with myofunctional therapists in the Charlotte and Mint Hill area who share our approach to airway and oral function, and we coordinate directly with them throughout the process.

How We Evaluate and Treat at Mint Hill Smiles

An evaluation at Mint Hill Smiles begins with a comprehensive functional assessment of the tongue, lips, and related structures. We are not simply looking at anatomy, we are evaluating how the tongue moves, how far it can extend and lift, how the patient swallows, and what functional limitations are present. A posterior tongue tie is not always visible with a casual look in the mouth and requires specific examination techniques to identify correctly.

We use our CBCT cone beam imaging when airway evaluation is also indicated, which is frequently the case in patients who present with tongue tie alongside signs of sleep-disordered breathing or significant crowding.

For cases that are within our scope, we perform the release in our office. The procedure is brief and performed with local anesthetic to ensure your child or you are completely comfortable throughout. Healing happens quickly, with post-operative care instructions focused on the stretching and movement exercises that are critical for preventing reattachment during the healing window.

For more complex cases, particularly those involving significant scar tissue, extensive prior procedures, or anatomical considerations that require a higher level of surgical expertise, we refer to trusted specialists whose approach aligns with ours. We never proceed with a case that is beyond what we can do well in our setting.

Our Training and Approach

My training at the Breathe Institute with Dr. Soroush Zaghi, one of the world’s most published researchers and clinicians in tethered oral tissues and functional frenuloplasty, is the clinical foundation for how I evaluate and treat tongue ties. Dr. Zaghi’s approach emphasizes functional assessment over anatomy alone, identifying not just whether a restriction is present but whether it is functionally significant and what the patient’s treatment should include to produce a lasting outcome.

That framework shapes every tongue tie evaluation we do at Mint Hill Smiles. We are not in the business of releasing every tight frenulum we find. We are in the business of identifying when a restriction is affecting function, ensuring a patient is properly prepared for the release, performing it skillfully, and supporting the full rehabilitation process through myofunctional therapy coordination.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions About Tongue Tie Release

The only way to know for certain is a proper functional evaluation by a provider trained to assess tethered oral tissues. Many tongue ties are not visible in a routine dental exam and require specific examination techniques. If you are experiencing symptoms that match the descriptions on this page, the best next step is to schedule an evaluation.
The area is numbed thoroughly before the procedure and most patients, including children, tolerate it very well. Some soreness and sensitivity are normal in the days following the release and are managed with over-the-counter pain relief and the prescribed stretching exercises. The healing window is typically one to two weeks.
Myofunctional therapy before the release is not optional in our protocol because it directly affects the outcome. Patients who arrive at a release with already established correct movement patterns heal better and are significantly less likely to experience reattachment. A provider who releases a tongue tie without requiring myofunctional therapy before and after is not giving you the standard of care that produces consistent results.
Reattachment occurs when healing produces scar tissue that restricts movement again, typically because the post-operative stretching and exercises were not performed consistently during the critical healing window. This is one of the most important reasons the myofunctional therapy piece is not optional. The therapist guides patients through the exercises and monitors healing to catch any early signs of reattachment.
Yes. Lip ties are evaluated as part of our tethered oral tissue assessment and treated when they are functionally significant.

Ready to Find Out If a Tongue Tie Is Affecting You or Your Child?

Call us at (704) 323-7577 to schedule a tongue tie evaluation. We see patients of all ages and we welcome families who have been searching for a provider who takes this seriously.

We are at 11300 Cresthill Drive, Suite 105, Mint Hill, NC 28227. We serve patients from Mint Hill, Matthews, Indian Trail, Stallings, Weddington, Midland, Albemarle, and throughout southeast Charlotte and the greater Charlotte area.

If a tongue tie has been affecting your life or your child’s, you deserve a thorough evaluation from someone who understands both the structural and functional dimensions of what that means. We are here for that conversation.

Book your appointment today