How is congenital short frenulum of the tongue treated in children?

Patient's question:

Congenital, short frenulum of the tongue, unclear speech

Doctor's answer:

The lingual frenulum refers to a thin mucous membrane at the base of the tongue, connecting the tongue to the floor of the mouth. It can be seen when the mouth is open and the tongue tip is curled upward. Dr. Feng said that a normal lingual frenulum allows the tongue to move freely, enabling the tip to naturally extend outside the mouth or move upward to touch the hard palate. If the lingual frenulum is congenitally too short, the tongue's protrusion movement is restricted, unable to extend beyond the outer side of the lower lip. The tip of the tongue may appear "V"-shaped or "W"-shaped, often causing difficulties in sucking, chewing, and speech, especially when pronouncing sounds, as it cannot accurately produce lingual-palatal and retroflex sounds, giving the impression of being "thick-tongued." Whether the lingual frenulum is too short can be checked by a doctor during the routine examination at 42 days after birth.
A short lingual frenulum can be corrected through surgery. Dr. Feng recommends that the surgery be performed around six months of age. If the baby is too young, it may be difficult to suture, and local anesthesia may also have side effects on the child. If the baby is over one year old, it will be challenging to clip the frenulum due to the presence of teeth, and general anesthesia will be required. At around six months, the lingual frenulum is still relatively thin, resulting in less bleeding and faster healing after surgery. The correction surgery takes about 20 minutes to complete.
After the surgery, the baby should not eat or drink for two hours.