Tethered Oral Tissue(s) or TOTs is a topic that has been more frequently discussed in the fields of lactation, speech pathology, oral surgery, orofacial myology and otolaryngology. Organizations such as the International Association of Orofacial Myology (IAOM) and the Academy of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (AOMT) have been highlighting this diagnosis and implications for therapy and surgery.

There are three forms of TOTs: buccal, labial and lingual. Lingual TOTs is most commonly known as “tongue-tie” or “ankyloglossia”. The Mayo Clinic in 2016 indicated that tongue-tie can affect the way a child eats, speaks and swallows, and can interfere with breast-feeding.

One of the driving factors in the increased interest in TOTs stems from current research linking sleep apnea to a short lingual frenulum, in addition to the increase awareness of the importance of breast feeding. With this topic comes some controversy, and speech pathologists are often left confused in their own role of diagnosing and treating TOTs.

With TalkTools, there are 3 ways you can learn about TOTs: