Anatomical classification of lingual frenulum in babies

ABSTRACT Purpose: to analyze the anatomical aspects of the lingual frenulum of babies attended the Reference Center for Hearing Health / CRESA, of the Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás / PUC Goiás. Methods: it is a cross-sectional, observational, analytical study with a quantitative approach. Babies between 1 and 4 months, of both genders, fed in the womb, were evaluated; babies with anatomical and physiological changes in the face, pre or post maturity or neurological impairment were excluded. For the anatomical classification of the lingual frenulum were analyzed the thickness of the frenulum and its attachment on the tongue and mouth floor, from the "Lingual frenulum protocol with scores for infants" (MARTINELLI; MARCHESAN; BERRETIN-FELIX, 2013). Results: it was possible to view the frenulum in 165 babies, being 104 normal and 61 altered. In just one baby was not possible to see the frenulum. Among the normal frenulum, were prevalent those with the attachment in the middle third and visible from the sublingual caruncles. Among the altered frenulum was more frequent those with attachment between the middle third and the apex and visible from inferior alveolar crest. Thin thickness was predominant. Among the babies with altered frenulum, 24 had altered suction and, of the babies with normal frenulum 18 had altered suction. Conclusion: the lingual frenulum were classified as normal or altered, being predominant normal lingual frenulum and thin thickness. Altered frenulum was prevalent in males. Babies with altered lingual frenulum showed more change of alteration in suction, although the correlation between frenulum and suction was low.