Position of lips and tongue in rest in newborns with and without ankyloglossia

Abstract

Purpose Verify the position of lips and tongue at rest in newborns with and without ankyloglossia. Methods Cross-sectional study, carried out with 130 newborns in University Hospital. Data collection was performed by the researcher and speech-language pathologists from the Hospital. Information on gestational age, sex, weight, height and days of life was collected. The position of the lips and tongue at rest was evaluated through visual inspection with the newborns asleep. After the newborns were awakened, Neonatal Screening of the validated Protocol for the evaluation of the lingual frenulum for infants was performed to detect the alteration of the lingual frenulum. The data obtained were described and submitted to statistical analysis using the Chi-Square test to verify the association between the position of the lips with the tongue and to compare the position of the lips and tongue with and without ankyloglossia. The Mann-Whitney test was used to verify the behavior of the variables the differed between newborns with and without ankyloglossia. The significance level of 5% was adopted. Results When comparing the data, a significant difference was found between: weight and height with and without ankyloglossia; position of lips and tongue. An association between the position of the tongue and lips with and without ankyloglossia was also found. Conclusion Newborns without alteration of the lingual frenulum have a tendency to remain with their lips closed and their tongue elevated during rest and newborns with ankyloglossia have a tendency to keep their lips parted and their tongue low during rest.

Anquiloglossia e suas implicações na saúde do bebê: uma revisão de literatura

“…Isso pode resultar em complicações a longo prazo, afetando não apenas a amamentação imediata, mas também a postura de repouso da língua, mandíbula e lábios, o que, por sua vez, pode influenciar o desenvolvimento oral e a formação do palato. Campanha et al, 2021, reiteram que recém-nascidos com anquiloglossia tendem a manter os lábios entreabertos e a língua mais baixa, sugerindo uma possível influência negativa a longo prazo no crescimento e desenvolvimento posteriores da criança, não apenas os dentofaciais, mas também fonoaudiológicos e psicológicos.…”

Association between tongue, lips position and breathing in newborns

“…Similar results were observed in the three moments. For this assessment, the examiner stood in front of the newborn, resting her gloved thumb on the chin region and lowering the mandible and lower lip, as proposed by Martinelli et al (14,15) .…”

Evaluation protocol for frenotomy

“…Functional assessment [4,5,7,12,[18][19][20][21]23] -opinion of speech therapy: • normal tongue mobility -0 points; • slight limitation of tongue mobility -1 point:…”

“…The incorrect resting position of the tongue (opinion of a speech therapist and an orthodontist or the result of a craniofacial CT scan in frontal and sagittal projections or oral MRI) [5,8,9,[18][19][20].…”