Teen Mom 2 & Tongue-Ties

by | Dec 18, 2020

kail

We were featured in this article about a frustrated mom’s tongue-tie struggles yesterday. (The “female doctor”, is me, they got confused…)

Here’s a quick note to dentists and providers. Always listen to mom’s story. She will tell you what is wrong. Having a poor diagnosis comes from not listening fully, or not examining properly. But to examine fully, and have a grasp on all the issues that can be related to a tongue-tie in babies, children, or adults, you have to have the right education.

Without education, you can see the restricted tongue, but not realize the implications or that it’s abnormal. Just as parents look at their kid’s teeth, but don’t realize the white spots or lines on teeth are starting cavities, or any number of other examples because they don’t have the training that a dentist would have.

This lack of education was highlighted on an episode of Teen Mom 2 this week (* I do not watch this show, but a couple of our team members do…) In the episode, the mom was told by her pediatrician and midwife that the baby had a tie, she knew he had all the symptoms, yet when they saw the ENT, she said there was “no tie” and the mom was very upset, and felt defeated and “stupid.

Unfortunately, we hear this story repeated in our office every day, where some providers said it’s a tie, and others do not. The ones who realized it was a tie, have had recent CE on the subject, and the others are basing their decision on what they learned in school 20 years ago.

I reached out to Kail via email, and she got it and responded to it on her podcast (she has 4M Instagram followers, and a widely listened to podcast), you can hear her story from min. 15-25. It’s worth a listen to hear what these moms are going through. She felt so much better knowing that she’s not going crazy, that her son very likely does have a tie, and the ENT was wrong and to get a second opinion.

https://podcasts.apple.com/…/pandemic…/id1305546061…

Read about it here:

https://www.the-sun.com/…/teen-mom-kailyn-lowry-cries…/

So listen to mom, get educated, and help your patients thrive.

If you’d like to learn more about tongue-ties, download a free copy of our book Tongue-Tied (mentioned on the podcast) at tonguetieal.com/book-offer.

We also have an online course, Tongue-Tied Academy where dentists can get educated on treating this common condition. www.TongueTiedAcademy.com

Author Name
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Baxter, DMD, MS, FAAPD

Board-Certified Pediatric Dentist  |  Fellow of the AAPD  |  Diplomate of the American Board of Laser Surgery

Dr. Richard Baxter is a board-certified pediatric dentist, Fellow of the AAPD, and Diplomate of the American Board of Laser Surgery. He is an internationally recognized speaker on tongue-ties, instructor of the acclaimed online course Tongue-Tied Academy, and lead author of the bestselling book Tongue-Tied: How a Tiny String Under the Tongue Impacts Nursing, Speech, Feeding, and More. He is passionate about educating parents and healthcare providers about the effects a tongue-tie can have throughout the lifespan. He lives in Birmingham, AL, with his wife, Tara, and their three girls, Hannah, Noelle, and Molly. He is the founder of the Alabama Tongue-Tie Center, where he uses the CO2 laser to release oral restrictions. He had a tongue-tie himself, and all of his girls were treated as infants, so this field is a personal one. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, running, and outdoor activities. He serves as a Faith Trainer at the Church at Brook Hills and participates in global missions projects around the world.

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