Infants' tongue-tie may be overdiagnosed and needlessly treated, American Academy of Pediatrics says
A prominent doctors' group worries that a condition in infants that can affect breastfeeding known as tongue-tie is being overdiagnosed in the U.S. and too often treated with unnecessary surgery
NEW YORK (AP) — Tongue-tie —a condition in infants that can affect breastfeeding — may be overdiagnosed in the U.S. and too often treated with unnecessary surgery, a prominent doctors' group said Monday.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is the latest, and largest, medical society to sound an alarm about the increasing use of scissors or lasers to cut away some infants' tongue tissue when breastfeeding is difficult.
“It's almost an epidemic,” said Dr. Maya Bunik, a Colorado-based co-author of the report.
Experts say there isn't a good count of how many infants each year are being treated for tongue-tie with surgery, though Bunik believes the annual tally may exceed 100,000. Research suggests many of those treatments are not necessary, she added.
