Post-Frenectomy Exercises For Babies – Make Sure They Heal Properly!

Frenectomies in Muscatine are the best way to resolve tongue and lip ties. But once Dr. Jarod performs your child’s operation at Arctic Dental and sends you home, it’s up to you to make sure their mouth heals properly. Let’s take a look at a few post-frenectomy exercises for babies, and discuss why they’re so important.

Do I Really Need To Perform Post-Frenectomy Exercises On My Baby?

In a word? Yes. You see, the frenectomy itself is only part of the process. To make sure your child’s tongue and/or lip ties do not recur, you need to make sure to stretch and exercise the frenulum. 

If you don’t do this, it’s entirely possible for the frenulum to heal and become just as tight and restrictive as it was before the procedure. Exercising the frenulum ensures that it stretches, heals properly, and causes no further complications. 

But how exactly can you do this? Dr. Jarod will give you a set of instructions to follow after your child’s procedure, but let’s discuss a few of these exercises now. 

Post-Frenectomy Exercises For Babies 

Let’s get into the details, and explain a few exercises that should be used during the frenectomy recovery process for infants. 

• Upper/lower lip stretch – This is pretty straightforward. Just put your finger under your child’s upper lip outside of the area that appears like a diamond. It is important not to touch the area that was treated as it could be painful during healing. Move it up as high as it will go until you encounter resistance. Then, ease off and sweep your finger from side to side for a few seconds.
  
• Tongue pickup – Next, move on to the tongue. Place two fingers under your child’s tongue outside of the diamond area where the procedure was performed, and lift it up as high as it will go, toward the roof of their mouth. Hold this for 1-2 seconds, and then relax.
  
• Stroking the “diamond” – Your child’s tongue will have a “diamond” shaped wound after treatment that must be maintained to heal properly. Place one finger into this opening. Gently massage over the middle of the diamond, but don’t use too much pressure as it could cause pain.
  
• Massaging the frenulum – As the final step, massage both sides of your child’s frenulum, outside of the diamond. You can use a bit more pressure, since you will not be directly contacting the wound.

It’s usually recommended to perform these stretches about 5-6 times per day for 2 weeks, and to begin gradually tapering down and ceasing stretches by week 3. Diaper changes are a great time to perform these quick stretches!

Know How To Help Your Child’s Mouth Heal After Their Frenectomy

Dr. Jarod will give you more detailed instructions after your appointment, but hopefully this blog has helped you learn some of the basics about post-frenectomy exercises for babies. Think your child needs a frenectomy for tongue or lip ties in Muscatine? Contact us online or call today at (563) 607-5979 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Jarod today.