Poster 2: Posterior lingual frenulum and breastfeeding

The literature refers to ankyloglossia as anterior, when the lingualfrenulum is visible, and posterior, when the frenulum is not visible. Posteriorankyloglossia is sometimes referred to as a submucosal tongue-tie. The anatomicalvariations of the posterior ankyloglossia and its interference with tongue movements arepoorly described in the literature. Aim: The aim of this study is to verify theoccurrence of posterior lingual frenulum in infants and its interference with suckingand swallowing during breastfeeding. Methods: This clinical study included 1084newborns, who were assessed at 30 days of life, using the Lingual Frenulum Protocol forInfants (LFPI). This study included healthy full-term infants, who were beingexclusively breastfed. Prematurity, perinatal complications, craniofacial anomalies,neurological disorders, and visible genetics syndromes were the exclusion criteria. TheLFPI was administered to the infants, and the assessments were registered andvideotaped. Tongue movements, sucking rhythm, sucking/swallowing/ breathingcoordination, nipple chewing, and/or tongue clicking were assessed during nutritive andnon-nutritive sucking evaluations. Descriptive statistics were performed. Results: Ofthe 1084 newborns, 479 (44.2%) had normal lingual frenulum; 380 (35%) had posteriorlingual frenulum; and 225 (20.8%) had lingual frenulum alterations. Infants withposterior lingual frenulum did not have any restrictive tongue movement during suckingand swallowing. Conclusion: The occurrence of posterior frenulum in this sample was 35%.The posterior frenulum did not interfere with sucking and swallowing duringbreastfeeding; therefore, surgery was not recommended for any of the subjects in thissample.