Tongue-tie in Newborns – a History of Changing Medical Attitudes

Abstract

This historical article discusses changes in opinions about tongue-tie (ankyloglossia) over two millennia. The sudden surge in interest, since 1990, in the impact of tongue-tie on tongue functions during breastfeeding and during speech development has renewed the historical controversies in contemporary terms and circumstances. A feature has been, and continues to be, the persistence of differences of opinion between and within the various medical professions and laypeople about the significance of tongue-tie in infancy, the indications for its division, and who should perform this procedure and under what conditions. We also consider presumed reasons for frequently extreme divergences of opinions in the historical span, and the difficulty of expecting clinical recommendations to be supported by evidence at the accepted level.

Keywords

• frenotomy
• lingual frenulum
• history of medicine
• tongue-tie