The Breastfeeding Dilemma: Misdiagnosed TOTS or Just Ignoring their Existence?

Parents have great expectations for motherhood. Unfortunately for many mothers, breastfeeding becomes a toe-curling, painful experience because of poor or missed diagnosis of tethered oral tissues also known as TOTS. The majority TOTS are primarily a combination of tongue-ties, medically known as ankyloglossia, and upper lip-ties. There are many unfortunate barriers for mothers getting good sound advice and a diagnosis of tongueties and lip-ties as the cause of their maternal and infant breastfeeding difficulties. Scientific plausibility can and often should be substituted for the concept of evidence-based knowledge when we look at the accumulated experience, education, and clinical skills of many practitioners who have been revising infants TOTs for years with great success. Revision these tethered tissues is not just for breastfeeding, but the tethered tongue can also affect many other body functions and systems.