tongue tie reversal operation on child

kelz85

Hi Guys,
Hope someone might be able to help me out. Ive just found out that my 3 1/2 year old son has tongue tie which is affecting his speech. He is to have the operation to have it cut but it could be up to 6 months waiting time. We would like to go private but when I called BUPA, they said they dont treat children. The reason we are pushing to get it done quickly is because we are the only ones who understand him when he talks and he is having a lot of difficulty being understod at nursery. He is really frustrated and getting it done now as opposed to in 6 months could make a huge difference. Does anyone have any experience of this or had operations performed on kids at private hospitals? any info or advice would really be appriciated.

Lady_E

I have PM'd you

bunty109

Yes, my son had this operation just after his third birthday in a private BUPA hospital in Essex. They wouldn't treat him until he was 3 but it can be done.

It's a relatively short operation (he was only down in theatre for about 45 minutes) and he was home within hours.

Feel free to PM me if you want details of the hospital etc.

LindaS

I had this operation at 2. Except the doctor failed to do it properly 'cuz I was screaming so much and there was blood everywhere...

I think they give some sort of local anesthetics now, but they didn't back then...

Had it done again at 17, except they couldn't stop the bleeding with their fancy electro-thingies and so had to stitch it up (as the anesthetics stopped working... most painful experience of my life).

Anyways... good luck to you guys!

bunty109

LindaS wrote: »

I had this operation at 2. Except the doctor failed to do it properly 'cuz I was screaming so much and there was blood everywhere...

I think they give some sort of local anesthetics now, but they didn't back then...

Had it done again at 17, except they couldn't stop the bleeding with their fancy electro-thingies and so had to stitch it up (as the anesthetics stopped working... most painful experience of my life).

Anyways... good luck to you guys!

OOOhhh painful!

My 3yo had his done under a general which is why they don't like doing it so young: when children are older they do it under a local. Unfortunately my son's hasn't worked properly so he may need it doing again in future (dentist said to hold off and we'll see). Apparently lots of boys who are tongue tied decide they want it done when they become teenagers and realise it hampers french kissing!!

bugbabe

my son had his done when he was 8 cos they said it was effecting his speech sadley didnt make any difference to his speech so may not help yours son speech alot just to warn you ,

pukkamum

my elder sister was tongue tied which was discovered when she wouldn't bf as a newborn my mum went to the docs and he told her to come back with a bottle he opened her mouth and cut the skin under her her tongue and stuck the bottle in!!!!!!! It was 35 yrs ago!!!!

kelz85

Thank you for all the replies. I know that this might not be successful and it might not make any difference to my little boys speech. He is already going to one to one speech therapy once a week but even the speech therapist is telling me this is going to be a very long process. He does go to a school nursery every afternoon but they are struggling to understand what my son is saying and its frustrating for everyone. They are saying he may need to stay behind at nusery for an extra year if his speech doesnt improve drastically in the next 12 months. This is the reason I wanted it done privately asap because the NHS are saying the is up to a 6 month waiting list. I have phoned BUPA again to double check that I was given the correct info (i.e they dont treat children) and was told that BUPA has been taken over by spire heathcare and that the info I was given was correct.
Does anyone know of any other private hospital that would treat children? We are in Edinburgh.
I am praying this is the solution to all the speech problems. Thanks again for all your help.

silvercar

Contact your consultant's secretary, she will know which hospitals will offer treatment.

longbaygirl

Our boy is 2 and a half with severe tongue-tie and having S&L help.

He is also getting really frustrated that no one (expect family) understand him. I'm worried that he is starting to lash out at nursery at other kids in anger because he can't join in with them. His brother is getting a lot of the flak/bashings at the mo.

I don't want his communication difficulties to end up as 'behavioural problems'.

We have been told by the S&L therapist that surgery might help.

We have BUPA as a family, and I just assumed they would do it - if we go to another hospital to have it done, will BUPA still pay for it?

Can someone explain the process to me - do we get a referral from our GP to see a consultant (privately) who then endorses, or not, the surgery, and then BUPA pays for it? Is that correct?

How do you find a surgeon that specialises in tongue-tie operations?

bunty109

longbaygirl wrote: »

Our boy is 2 and a half with severe tongue-tie and having S&L help.

He is also getting really frustrated that no one (expect family) understand him. I'm worried that he is starting to lash out at nursery at other kids in anger because he can't join in with them. His brother is getting a lot of the flak/bashings at the mo.

I don't want his communication difficulties to end up as 'behavioural problems'.

We have been told by the S&L therapist that surgery might help.

We have BUPA as a family, and I just assumed they would do it - if we go to another hospital to have it done, will BUPA still pay for it?

Can someone explain the process to me - do we get a referral from our GP to see a consultant (privately) who then endorses, or not, the surgery, and then BUPA pays for it? Is that correct?

How do you find a surgeon that specialises in tongue-tie operations?

My dentist told me which surgeon would operate and I then went to my GP and told me that I wanted him to refer me privately. Once he did this I then phoned up my private medical company, said I had a private referral letter and wanted to see Mr X (the consultant). Your GP should know which surgeon will perform a lingual frenectomy and if they are NHS based you can always call their secretary to find out if they work privately and get referred to them there. long as your GP refers you and you are covered by your policy then BUPA or whoever will just pay the consultant direct.

Only other thought is that if you have a large teaching or children's hospital near you, would be to call them to see if they would treat your child either privately or on the NHS, and then get a referral from your GP: you're entitled to go where you want I believe even if it isn't local. My younger son had a problem with his testicle and our local hospital wouldn't consider an operation because of his age. We were referred to Great Ormond Street as they would operate if required and we saw the consultant there in his private clinic. Fortunately an operation wasn't required, but the were brilliant at GOSH.