Poster 1: Rest position of the tongue in infants with and without lingual frenulum alteration

Abstract

Rest position of the infants' tongue with and without lingual frenulum alteration is poorly reported in the literature. The present study aims to verify the rest position of the tongue in infants with and without lingual frenulum alteration. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 324 infants. While the infant was sleeping, deep sleep, the SLP, facing the baby, opened the infant's mouth by pushing down the infant's chin with their thumbs, and at the same time, elevated the upper lip using their index fingers. The maneuver provided the visualization of the infant's tongue position at rest: elevated or down. The Chi-square test was used for statistical treatment of the data at 5% level of significance (p<0.05). The variables included in the Chi-square analyses were: a) tongue elevated, b) tongue down-positioned, c) normal lingual frenulum, and d) altered lingual frenulum. The statistical analysis demonstrated that there was an association between the tongue position at rest and the characteristics of the lingual frenulum. When the lingual frenulum was altered, the infant's tongue rest position tended to be down in the oral cavity (p<0.001). In infants with lingual frenulum alteration, the tongue at rest tended to be down-positioned, between the gum pads. In infants with normal lingual frenulum, the tongue at rest tended to be elevated.