Diagnosis of ankyloglossia in infants
Abstract
The objective of this study was to examine the available scientific evidence regarding the diagnosis of ankyloglossia in infants.
A single reviewer conducted a narrative literature review. Searches were performed in the following databases: PubMed, BVS, Cochrane, Trip Database, Epistemonikos, and Google Scholar. The MeSH terms used for English were "ankyloglossia," "diagnosis," "infant," and "newborn," with corresponding terms applied for other languages. The Boolean operators used were AND and OR.
The study was conducted in 2024 under the supervision and co-supervision of speech-language pathologists Álvaro Vila and Silvia Palermo.
The initial search yielded 345 articles. After removing duplicates (27), excluding articles based on title and abstract (280) according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, and excluding 10 articles after a full-text review, 28 publications remained for the study.
We conclude that there is no universally accepted diagnostic protocol for assessing ankyloglossia. Currently available tests lack sufficient validation. There is a clear need for psychometric evaluation of existing tools used to diagnose lingual frenulum issues in infants, or alternatively, the development of a new, robust, and comprehensive tool.
Diagnostic measures must align with current concepts regarding the anatomy and functionality of the lingual frenulum and the updated definition of ankyloglossia. This alignment is essential to determine the prevalence of short lingual frenulum more accurately, reduce heterogeneity across studies, and ensure more uniform clinical management among professionals from various disciplines dealing with the lingual frenulum, ultimately benefiting the patient.
