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'Cause I refuse to bite my tongue

Thought I'd share more than you'd ever want to know about the dysfunction of my tongue.

This from kidshealth.com:

Frenulum
Say: fren-yuh-lum
You've got a friend in your frenulum, the piece of skin that attaches your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. But if your frenulum is too short, that's called tongue-tied, and it can cause problems with your speech. Doctors sometimes do an operation to free up the tongue by snipping the frenulum.


My son had a little snip-snip on his frenulum soon after his birth because he couldn't stick out his tongue correctly to nurse. Now he won't be speech impaired, and he won't suffer the shame I face every time I visit a new dentist or see a new dental hygienist and become the freak of the week.

Something I didn't know, however, is that there also exists a bit of exclusively male anatomy that shares the name of the thingey under everyone's tongue. Tongue-tied or not, that piece of information might render anyone speechless. Reading on, I discovered that we women have one, too. So, guys, don't think yours is anything special.

In fact, an alternative definition I found explained that a frenulum is a small spine-like lobe that projects from a moth's hind wing. This structure helps hold the hind wings and the fore wings together while the moth is flying.

Generally defined, according to the National Institutes of Health, the frenulum is any small fold of tissue that connects a more fixed part to a movable part.

My suggestion: Be very sure you understand exactly what's getting the old snip-snip when and if the doc ever tells you that you require a frenotomy.


Edited to add:

My husband came to my defense and said he has witnessed absolutely no negative effects from my lingual defect; he advised me to note that I can tie a maraschino cherry stem in a knot with my tongue.

Be impressed, he said, be very impressed.

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