We remain uncertain about which infants will benefit from surgical treatment
Ankyloglossia in newborns with breastfeeding difficulties has been diagnosed and treated in North America with increasing frequency over the past ten years.1,2 Kapoor and colleagues3 report in this issue of the MJA that frenotomy rates in Australia increased by 420% between 2006 and 2016, with differences between states and territories in the magnitude of the change.
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- 1. Walsh J, Links A, Boss E, Tunkel D. Ankyloglossia and lingual frenotomy: national trends in inpatient diagnosis and management in the United States, 1997–2012. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2017; 156: 735-740.
- 2. Joseph K, Kinniburgh B, Metcalfe A, et al. Temporal trends in ankyloglossia and frenotomy in British Columbia, Canada, 2004–2013: a population-based study. CMAJ Open 2016; 4: e33-e40.
- 3. Kapoor V, Douglas PS, Hill PS, et al. Frenotomy for tongue-tie in Australian children, 2006–2016: an increasing problem. Med J Aust 2018; 208: 88-89.
- 4. Francis D, Krishnaswami S, McPheeters M. Treatment of ankyloglossia and breastfeeding outcomes: a systematic review. Pediatrics 2015; 135: e1458-e1466.
- 5. Webb A, Hao W, Hong P. The effect of tongue-tie division on breastfeeding and speech articulation: a systematic review. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2013; 77: 635-646.
- 6. O’Shea JE, Foster JP, O’Donnell C, et al. Frenotomy for tongue-tie in newborn infants. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2017; (3): CD011065.
- 7. Dennis CL, Jackson K, Watson J. Interventions for treating painful nipples among breastfeeding women. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2014; (12): CD007366.
- 8. Victoria C, Bahl R, Barros A, et al. Breastfeeding in the 21st century: epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effect. Lancet 2016; 387: 475-490.
- 9. Xu F, Qiu L, Binns C, Liu X. Breastfeeding in China: a review. Int Breastfeed J 2009; 4: 6.
- 10. Kent J, Ashton E, Hardwick C, et al. Nipple pain in breastfeeding mothers: incidence, causes, and treatments. Int J. Environ Res Public Health 2015; 12: 12247-12263.
- 11. Hazelbaker AK. Tongue-tie morphogenesis, impact, assessment and treatment. Columbus (OH): Aidan & Eva Press, 2010.
- 12. Sackett DL, Rosenberg WM, Gray JA, et al. Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn’t. BMJ 1996; 312: 71-72.
- 13. Genther DJ, Skinner ML, Bailey PJ, et al. Airway obstruction after lingual frenulectomy in two infants with Pierre-Robin Sequence. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2015; 79: 1592-1594.
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