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 have nothing useful to say but thank you for educating me that this is a real thing and not just a colloquialism.
That’s how I found out too! In 2019, I was at the dentist for a cleaning and check up. The dental hygienist had her hands in my mouth as they do and said “Oh, you’re a bit tongue tied”, I thought she was being cheeky that I was talkative since she had her hands in my mouth. When I could talk next, I asked what she meant, and she said the flap of skin I have attached on the bottom of my tongue, anchoring it to the floor of my mouth shouldn’t be there. And that it’s called being tongue tied, they correct it in infants when they find it.
So I had the same response you did, I had no idea it was just a phrase we use to say someone wasn’t talkative, but rather something physically that someone can have!