In the article, we will consider how plastic surgery of the frenulum of the upper lip in a child is performed. The baby’s ability to clearly speak, smile and many other functions depend on her. Plastic surgery to correct the frenulum was carried out as early as the 50s of the last century. Today, the possibilities of medicine have become much wider, and such manipulation can be carried out in several ways.
In what cases is plastic surgery prescribed for the frenulum of the upper lip in a child?
Indications for surgical intervention
Normally, this area of soft tissue, which is located under the upper lip, is fixed at a distance of 0.5 cm or 0.8 cm from the necks of the upper teeth. With a physiological place of localization in a child and the right amount of problems with articulation, speech, difficulties with eating, aesthetic defects in this area of the face, as a rule, does not arise. If they are still noticed, it is very easy to determine the reason for this (in the wrong bridle under the upper lip) when examined by a specialist.
Plastic surgery of the frenulum of the upper lip in a child is performed when, as a result of its improper development, he has the following pathological phenomena:
- Diastema, which is a pronounced, unattractive looking gap between the teeth. The problem here is not only aesthetics. When fixed in the interdental papillae, the frenulum prevents the correct position of the teeth, begins to injure them, as a result of which periodontitis develops. The front incisors gradually diverge in different directions, while leaning forward towards the lips.
- Periodontal pathology or an increased likelihood of their occurrence. This is possible with a too short bridle, which raises the gum up, exposing the roots and necks of the teeth. The remains of food are constantly packed into the exposed space, and they will later begin to decompose and rot.
- Obstruction in the installation of prostheses in adults. If it is too short, the prosthesis is very difficult to fix.
- Obstacles to correcting a malocclusion. The improper arrangement of the frenum has a direct impact on its formation, since it creates an increased load on the entire dentition. In order for the installation of a plate or braces to give a positive result, it is recommended to tidy up this area of the tissues of the oral cavity.
- Violation of the pronunciation of certain sounds, most often the vowels "o" and "y". This is the rarest reason forcing surgery.
- Violation of the functions of sucking in infants. For the correctness of this physiological process, the normal state of all parts of the oral cavity is important. If a child as a result of the presence of this problem is not able to saturate, he becomes tearful, poorly gaining weight. In this situation, surgery is performed at an early age.
Optimal time for plastic surgery
It is never too late to conduct plastic surgery of the frenulum of the upper lip in a child. However, it is best to implement it without waiting for serious problems, including not only the pathology of the teeth and gums, problems with articulation, but also diseases of the digestive system. Plastic surgery of the frenulum in children is done from about 5.5 years old, if at an earlier age there are no difficulties with breastfeeding. During this period, milk teeth are replaced by permanent ones. And while the indigenous ones have not finally erupted, with the help of correction, it is possible to prevent the incisors from dispersing to the sides, forming a diastema. Pathology will be prevented, which will be promoted by the growing second incisors on the upper jaw.
Do I have to wait until a certain age?
Some doctors prefer to postpone surgery until they are seven or eight years old. By this period, the front incisors have already appeared, and the bite can be more clearly traced. This means that plastic surgery will be much more accurate.
Laser surgery of the frenulum of the upper lip in children is now being performed more and more frequently. About this - below.
Contraindications for surgery
Surgical intervention in the presence of a similar problem is not carried out for every child. There are some contraindications to this type of plastic surgery, which include:
- pathology of the oral cavity;
- bone disease;
- complicated caries;
- previous radiation exposure on the neck and head;
- serious diseases of the nervous system;
- blood pathology;
- exacerbated infectious diseases that do not affect the oral cavity only;
- mental illness;
- serious metabolic disorders with a tendency to collagenosis;
- oncological diseases.
A photo of the plasticity of the frenulum of the upper lip (before and after) is presented below.
Stages of preparation for this procedure
We will understand how the preparation for surgical intervention occurs.
Plastic surgery on the bridle is a fairly simple intervention. However, given the list of contraindications, the child must be carefully examined: take general urine and blood tests, conduct a coagulation, fluorography. The oral cavity must be sanitized without fail, caries and other problems are cured. Immediately before the surgical procedure, the child needs to be fed, since some time after the operation, eating will be prohibited. After this, you need to brush your teeth and rinse your mouth with a special antiseptic solution.
Varieties of operations
What technique will correct this soft tissue site? It all depends on the type of violations in the development and structure of the frenulum. At the same time, there are several ways to quickly solve the problem:
- Laser frenulum of the upper lip. This method is the most modern. With its help, the time for the operation and further rehabilitation is reduced. There is no need to stitch, worry that the child will lose a lot of blood. The likelihood of experiencing severe pain, getting an infection and a postoperative scar with laser plastic surgery is also reduced to zero. This is especially important if the correction is carried out in childhood. Laser surgery of the frenulum of the upper lip is carried out using local gel anesthesia with a special gel. The laser beam is directed to the problem area. Under its influence, excess tissue evaporates, sterilization and sealing of damaged blood vessels occurs.
- A proven old method of correcting the position of the frenulum using surgical instruments. Such an intervention is performed under local infiltration anesthesia, anesthesia. There are two ways to perform such an operation. The first is a Y-shaped frenuloplasty, which involves the formation of an incision in the frenulum of the required shape. The second is Limberg surgery, in which the incisions in the tissue are outlined with the letter Z. Both surgical interventions are done in order to move the abnormal frenum to the right place. Manipulations are carried out immediately after an anesthetic injection, and in order to suture, catgut is used - a self-absorbable material.
- Frenotomy, which is performed with a narrowed bridle. The mucosal area is dissected across, as a result of which it becomes longer. The seam is laid along the cut edge.
- A phrenectomy (removal of the bridle) is performed if the bridle is excessively wide. In this situation, a large amount of plaque accumulates on the teeth, and diseases that have a menacing nature can develop. During this intervention, the incision is made along the edge of the mucosa, the interdental papilla and some tissue located near the roots of the central incisors are removed.
A photo of the plasticity of the frenulum of the upper lip in children is presented.
Plastic Surgery Care
After surgery, the child may feel a little soreness in the area affected by the laser or instruments. After laser surgery, such symptoms are less pronounced. To allow the injured tissue to heal quickly and prevent its infection, it is necessary:
- For two or three hours, do not feed the baby, and in the next two days the food should not be hot and hard, otherwise damaged tissues can be injured.
- Watch out for oral hygiene. A soft brush is used for cleaning.
- Rinse the mouth thoroughly, preferably with antiseptic solutions.
- One of the first days after the operation to come for examination by a specialist.
- A week later, special gymnastics begins, which strengthens the facial and chewing muscles.
Patients often look for a photo of plastic surgery of the frenulum of the upper lip, on which the result is presented. Photos before and after the operation are given in the article.
Surgery Results
If before the plastic surgery the child had impaired speech functions, abnormal growth and formation of teeth, then after such a correction, such problems usually disappear. This happens gradually, as the baby needs to get used to such changes and learn how to pronounce new sounds.
Many parents claim that after plastic surgery of the frenulum of the upper lip, their child speaks much better.
Some time after the plastic surgery, the child may feel some discomfort due to the changed movements of the lips and tongue. However, this stage of adaptation usually lasts no longer than 5 days. During this time, they manage to heal all the damage to the mucous membrane, the previous violations of diction disappear. Some more time may be needed to eliminate the diastema. At the same time, the process of normalizing the growth of incisors can last up to several months.
Side effects
Does it hurt a child with plastic bridle of the upper lip? Not if anesthetics have been used. If you follow the implementation of postoperative procedures correctly, then the development of side effects is usually not observed. May cause minor pain, mild swelling.
With improper care of the oral cavity, the occurrence of inflammatory phenomena that affect the processes of scar formation is possible: sometimes this procedure is required to be repeated.
Complications
Complications most often occur in children with an unformed jaw and baby teeth. After plastics, when changing teeth to molars, they can bend, the jaw acquires signs of underdevelopment. When correcting the frenulum, children with the wrong bite may have difficulty pronouncing.
Don't put off
Parents need to know that not in every case the diagnosis requires surgical intervention. But if a specialist speaks of obvious medical indications for this, one should not put off the plastic in a long drawer or refuse it altogether. The consequences may be worse than minor pain and fear of surgery.
Reviews
Plastic surgery of the frenulum of the upper lip in children is a very common surgical intervention today. Parents to whose children it was carried out note that in most cases the correction is successful and does not cause any serious complications.
The most popular method is laser plastic surgery of the frenulum of the upper lip. According to reviews, small patients after such an operation feel well, the intervention does not cause large blood loss and is absolutely painless. Parents say that after correction of the frenulum with a laser, the mucous membrane heals much faster than after a normal operation.
In the postoperative period, most children had no serious violations. They, according to reviews of the plasticity of the frenulum of the upper lip, experienced minor pain, which passed on the second day.