ANECDOTE AND SUPER IMPORTANT MESSAGE:

DR. SANTIAGO’S SECOND CHILD, ALESSANDRO, WAS BORN VIA PLANNED C-SECTION AND WAS SUBSEQUENTLY DIAGNOSED WITH A POSTERIOR TOGUE-TIE IN 2012. SHE DID NOT TREAT THE TEHTER AS THERE WAS SO LITTLE DATA, INFORMATION, AND MINIMAL DISCUSSION TAKING PLACE IN DENTISTRY, MEDICINE, LACTATION BACK THEN.

FAST FORWRD TO 2019 WHEN DR. SANTIAGO THOUGHT TO RE-ASSESS ALESSANRO’S RANGE OF MOTION…NO TETHER. PERFECTLY FUNCTIONAL.

SO, HOW DID ALESSANDRO PRESENT WITH ALL OF THE SAME SYMPTOMS OF A TONGUE-TIE (AS WELL AS DR. HAVING ALL OF THE COMMON SYMPTOMS THAT MOM’S EXPERIENCE) BUT DID NOT HAVE A TONGUE-TIE? HE WAS BORN VIA C-SECTION AT 39 WEEKS, DID NOT HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE CRANIAL MOLDING IN THE BIRTH CANAL, WAS BORN WITH TIGHT FLOOR OF MOUTH FASCIA, DID NOT SEE AN OSTEOPATH/CRANIAL CHIROPRACTOR/CRANIOSACRAL THERAPIST, HAD CRANIAL BASE ASYMMETRY FROM HOW HE WAS POSITIONED IN THE WOMB, AND HIS MUSCLES WERE NOT FULLY COORDINATED DUE TO THE SUBTLE PRESSURES ON THE NERVES THAT POWER THE OROFACIAL MUSCLES.

BABYLASE IS THE ANSWER TO WHAT ALESSANDRO EXPERIENCED AND LIKELY SO MANY MORE BABIES. ALESSANDRO WOULD HAVE HAD AN UNNECESSARY SURGERY WHEN ALL THAT WAS NEEDED WAS LIGHT (IN THE FORM OF LASER ENERGY) AND THE HEALING HANDS OF A CRANIAL PROVIDER.

LET’S DO BETTER!!!

What is BabyLase?

BabyLase is a gentle non-invasive laser therapy that non-surgically releases the majority of tongue-ties and some buccal and labial ties. This is a therapuetic approach and a collaborative, function first approach to care.

This is Bio-Functional tongue-tie release in which light energy is utilized at customized doses and in specific sequences along the arms, hands, face, neck, and inside the mouth.

The energy does several important things:

  1. Makes fascia more pliable, supple, and functional.

  2. Helps the muscles move better by eliminating the tight crystalline casing (think sticky gooey cobweb around the muscles)

  3. It helps to define what tissue is really in the midline. Is it muscle? Is it fascia? Is it a tether?

  4. With more defined tissue, if we are doing surgery, it is a much smaller wound and accurate surgery.

  5. It optimizes neruromuscular coordination and “onlines” uncoordinated cranial nerves.

  6. It is a control-alt-delete for gestational and birth trauma!

  7. More info to come on why the fascia is tight, what is the definition of birth trauma, how the birth process shapes oral function.

Side notes:

Dr. Santiago was the first surgial laser infant frenectomy provider in the PNW in 2016.

She was one of the first to purchase the LightScalpel CO2 laser in 2017.

She has had time to perfect and use that CO2 a laser! But, now she has taken a conservative WHOLISTIC approach that surplants surgery and only surgically treats babies when they are neurologically and functionally ready as well as have a true midline tether.

Dr. Santiago was one of the first 22 doctors in the United States and the first in the state of WA, to offer BabyLase beginning in 2021 and took BabyLase education again recently in 2025; she was enlightened and determined to do better for babies and families.

Is the dental and medical profession over-treating tongue-ties with surgery?

It may be very much the truth!

There are an abundance of restrictions present in the population, but not all require surgical releases.

What if the majority of the restrictions are NOT midline tethers (tongue-ties) but tight fascia from the floor of the mouth? What if this tightness and restricted tongue movement is a result of baby’s position in the womb, being exposed to stress in the womb, or having a traumatic birth?

There IS an absolute place for surgery, but why not try a gentler more cautious and calculated approach that does not require cutting first.

WHY? HERE IS THE RESEARCH…

An article published in 2019 by New Zealand Pediatric ENT Dr. Nikki Mills, proved that the way the lingual frenum tissue looks varies a lot from person to person, and it’s not always clear how its appearance relates to how well the tongue can move. The lingual frenulum (the small band of tissue under the tongue) can sometimes limit how well the tongue moves, which may cause problems with breastfeeding in some babies. However, the way this tissue looks varies a lot from person to person, and it’s not always clear how its appearance relates to how well the tongue can move.

The research/dissection found that the frenum is not a simple string or band. Instead, it’s a flexible, layered structure made up of mouth lining and tissue underneath it, which stretches and forms a fold when the tongue moves up or back.

The study also found that a muscle called the genioglossus is connected to this tissue and can sometimes be pulled into the fold of the frenulum. Additionally, important nerves that help the tongue feel and move are located just below the surface, making them easy to accidentally damage during tongue-tie surgery.

So, how do we know what tissues lie in the midline? We do not know! Why cut structures if we do not know what we are cutting?

 

Courtesy of The Synergy Academy

1064nm wavelength lasers + BabyLase

At present, only 2 lasers exist with the 1064nm, both are Fotona lasers.

Training is specific to and only attainable with the Synergy Academy!

Clinical Equipoise - evolving and pushing the envelope of clinical care further

“The principle of equipoise states that, when there is uncertainty or conflicting expert opinion about the relative merits of diagnostic, prevention, or treatment options, allocating interventions to individuals in a manner that allows the generation of new knowledge (eg, randomization) is ethically permissible.

The principle of equipoise reconciles potentially conflicting ethical imperatives: to ensure that research involving human participants generates scientifically sound and clinically relevant information while demonstrating proper respect and concern for the rights and interests of study participants.”

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2600451