The missus and I have a discussion about our daughters teeth. My 5 year old has gaps between all teeth especially the front teeth which is quite common. However the missus mentioned that our daughter might need frenulum surgery. (Frenelum is the part between the upper lip and the gums). I’ve never heard of it and thought most people just do the kyousei once the kid gets older.
The surgery would have to be done once the front teeth starts losing the milk-teeth. If its not necessary or not detrimental to tooth-health I rather not do the surgery as my daughter already dislikes going to the dentist.
Anyone else have their kids do the procedure, was it necessary? Is it recommended? Expensive? Any info would be welcome.
7 comments
Doesn’t really sound like a question for random Redditors who have never seen your daughter’s teeth?
Nobody has even said anything yet beyond that it “might” be necessary. What exactly are you concerned about? Shady dentist?? Bad medical system? Wife overly concerned about beauty?
FYI there are 3 commonly operated on frenulums, two of which are in the mouth. The other is under your tongue.
There are others, some internally as well: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frenulum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frenulum)
Just in case people get all sorts of ideas when you talk to them.
I’m glad you explained that this is about a body part in the mouth. I thought you were talking about a body part on the penis and the daughter part had me confused.
I had the surgery as a kid, although it was done in my home country, not here. IIRC, insurance paid for it, but even if it hadn’t, quick google search says that even in the States it’s pretty cheap. I remember having to take a couple days off school, and had a couple of stitches that had to be monitored, but they were the kind the dissolve as the gums healed. Was a week or two of not being able to run around and play, and was fine after that. That was in the early 90’s, it’s probably a better procedure now.
Any chance that your significant other is Korean?
There was a craze on frenulum surgeries there a while back because it was supposed to help children master English… In other words a pile of BS.
I had a centimeter gap between my adult front teeth. My parents and dentist talked about the surgery, considering how big the gap was. We opted not to have surgery. A combination of retainers (to fix my jaw) and braces eventually brought my front teeth together over the course of a couple years. Started age 11 and if I remember correctly my front teeth were together at age 16 or so. At that point, the brackets on those teeth were wired together and when I got my braces off age 19 I was given a permanent retainer.
The surgery will bring the teeth together somewhat but depending on the gap your child will still need braces or retainers to close the remaining gap if you want something like the classic American smile. All of my dental work was done in America, but if you have any questions I have many years of knowledge of living with and fixing gaps in teeth.
Make sure your kid is breathing in through their nose. Mouth breathing can be a big cause of issues. Not kidding.