Tongue tie is one of the oral condition which is observed most commonly during childhood. The condition is marked by abnormal partial or complete attachment of the lower surface of the tongue to the floor of the mouth. This usually leads to speech problems as the movement of the tongue is restricted resulting in inability to generate certain sounds. This can lead to malocclusion as the tongue is forced to be placed downward than the normal position leading to constriction of the maxillary/upper arch. The treatment involves surgical lingual Frenectomy to relieve the tongue from the floor of the mouth. Since a long time, blades have been used to perform lingual Frenectomy. It involves multiple disadvantages including bleeding, inability to maintain a clean field, delayed healing and pain, formation of fibrous tissue after healing, requirement of sutures, chance of puncturing the blood vessels on the floor of the mouth and most importantly patient cooperation. Recently lasers have been used for relieving lingual frenum in cases of Tongue Tie. Performing this surgery with lasers have helped the clinician to perform the surgery with increased precision as it provides a clean working field in less time. Lasers seal the blood vessels and lymphatic vessels while surgery thus resulting in a blood free (or minimal bleeding) surgery with faster healing. This gives us an advantage to preventing any damage to the underlying blood vessels. Also sutures are not required in most cases post operatively. Due to the above mentioned advantages of Lasers, they are slowly forming the first line of treatment for surgeries including those of lingual Frenectomy and Tongue Tie. Considering the positive intra and post operative effects of Laser surgery, patients are preferring to be performed upon by laser.
