Abstract:

Objectives: Ankyloglossia is an anomaly that results from a short and thick lingual frenulum that causes limited tongue movement. It can cause problems such as difficulty in sucking, abnormal swallowing, speech disorder, malocclusion, gingival recession, especially in infancy. In this research, it was aimed to evaluate the clinical diagnostic criteria of ankyloglossia, functional disorders due to ankyloglossia, clinical treatment approaches of ankyloglossia, and the complications of these approaches that may affect the prognosis based on studies in the literature. Material and Method: A literature review was conducted to evaluate the studies on ankyloglossia in pediatric dentistry. The articles indexed in pubMed, Google Scholar, SpringerLink, Web of Science, Elsevier ScienceDirect, and Scopus electronic databases were accessed and evaluated using the keywords “ankyloglossia”, “tongue tie”, “lingual frenectomy”, and “pediatric dentistry”. Results: When the studies in the literature were examined, it was concluded that surgical treatments were planned according to the degree of functional limitations caused by ankyloglossia in children. With the developing technology, the laser is recommended in order to facilitate healing by eliminating the complications of conventional surgical treatment approaches and post-operative discomforts. Conclusion: Surgical techniques, rehabilitation exercises, and patient cooperation are important for the early correction of functional disorders due to ankyloglossia. With the use of laser in the surgical treatment of ankyloglossia, the need for general/local anesthesia and suturing decreases during the operation, the need for analgesic and/or anti-inflammatory drugs decreases after the operation, and better healing can be achieved by reducing hematoma, inflammation and bleeding. Despite its many advantages, this method has clinical limitations as it requires expensive equipment and trained personnel.