Do tongue-ties affect speech?
Matthew Wilson
Updated on January 04, 2026
There is a misconception that a tongue-tie will cause problems with a child's speech intelligibility, or that a child may not be able to speak because of a restricted lingual frenulum. Despite this common belief, there is no evidence in the scientific literature that ankyloglossia typically causes speech impairments.
Does a tongue-tie delay speech?
Ankyloglossia, also known as tongue-tie, is a congenital oral condition that can cause difficulty with breastfeeding, speech articulation, and mechanical tasks such as licking the lips.Does tongue-tie surgery improve speech?
However, most patients who receive a frenectomy demonstrate some progress in the development of appropriate feeding skills, improved speech intelligibility, or increased speech sound acquisition. Historically, articulation errors decrease after tongue-tie release [20-22].What speech sounds are affected by tongue-tie?
Tongue-tie can interfere with the ability to make certain sounds — such as "t," "d," "z," "s," "th," "r" and "l." Poor oral hygiene. For an older child or adult, tongue-tie can make it difficult to sweep food debris from the teeth. This can contribute to tooth decay and inflammation of the gums (gingivitis).At what age should a tongue-tie be cut?
This simple, quick procedure often is done without anesthesia in babies younger than 3 months old because the area has few nerve endings or blood vessels. It's safe to do this in an outpatient office setting.Do Tongue Ties Cause Speech Delays?
What happens if you don't fix tongue-tie?
After tongue-tie goes untreated as the baby grows into a young child, the child may experience these health consequences: Inability to chew. Choking, gagging, or vomiting foods. Eating in food fads.How often does tongue-tie affect speech?
There is a misconception that a tongue-tie will cause problems with a child's speech intelligibility, or that a child may not be able to speak because of a restricted lingual frenulum. Despite this common belief, there is no evidence in the scientific literature that ankyloglossia typically causes speech impairments.What causes speech delay?
A delay in speech development may be a symptom of many disorders, including mental retardation, hearing loss, an expressive language disorder, psychosocial deprivation, autism, elective mutism, receptive aphasia and cerebral palsy. Speech delay may be secondary to maturation delay or bilingualism.Can tongue-tie cause a stutter?
Symptoms in ChildrenSymptoms of tongue tie in children include: Delay in speech development. Stuttering.