Frenectomy — Tongue-Tie and Lip-Tie Release in Frisco, TX
A frenectomy is a short procedure with a lot of noise around it — done here from the teenage years onwards. Younger children are referred to specialists who see them more often, and this page says where to start.
How a frenectomy is assessed and done in Frisco
The assessment matters more than the procedure. Releasing a frenum that was not causing a problem is unhelpful, and it is the single most common criticism of this treatment.
Checking whether the tie restricts movement
A frenum that looks tight is not the same as a frenum that limits function. What we assess is movement — how far the tongue lifts and extends, whether it can reach the palate, how the lip sits. Appearance alone is not a diagnosis on its own; function is what decides treatment.
Your health and symptom history
Speech that a therapist has already assessed, gum recession at a lower front tooth, or a gap being held open before orthodontics. Different problems, different thresholds — and a frenum that has caused none of them rarely needs releasing.
When we recommend against a frenectomy
Not every tight frenum should be released. Where there is no functional restriction, or where the difficulty has another cause, release is a procedure with nothing to gain from it. This is the part of the appointment we would most like to be judged on.
How the frenectomy release is done
Done by Dr. Yarlagadda or Dr. Louie, the two doctors here who perform them, with the diode laser under local anesthetic. It takes minutes. The laser seals as it works, so there is little bleeding and usually no sutures.
Stretching exercises after a frenectomy
For tongue-tie release in particular, gentle post-operative stretches for a couple of weeks keep the site from reattaching as it heals. This is not optional and it is the part most often skipped. You will be shown exactly what to do before you leave.
Follow-up visit after a frenectomy
We check the healing, and more usefully, whether the thing that prompted the release has actually changed. If it has not, we would rather know that than assume the procedure fixed it.
What to know before a frenectomy
We treat teenagers and adults, not babies or young children
If you are here about an infant or a young child, this is not the practice for it. We would rather say so on the page than after you have driven here. Releases in babies and small children are a particular skill. For infants the assessment runs alongside a lactation consultant, the aftercare stretches matter enormously, and a small child usually cannot cooperate the way the procedure needs. The whole thing is done best by somebody who does it regularly, week in and week out. That is not what we do here, so we refer instead. If it is a feeding problem, start with an experienced lactation consultant. A great many feeding difficulties have causes other than a tongue-tie, and releasing tissue will not fix those. It is also worth knowing that the evidence is more mixed than the internet suggests. Research shows fairly consistent short-term improvement in nipple pain for the mother, while evidence for improved milk transfer and weight gain is weaker. Ask us either way and we will point you somewhere sensible.
Three reasons adults and older children get a frenectomy
Most adult frenectomies here fall into three groups. A lower lip frenum attached high enough that it pulls the gum away from a front tooth and drives recession is a periodontal problem. Releasing it protects the tooth. A midline upper lip frenum holding a gap between the front teeth open, usually released as part of orthodontic treatment — not as a stand-alone fix. And restricted tongue movement affecting speech, where release is one part of a plan that includes speech therapy. It is very rarely a fix on its own. Outside those, an adult frenum that has caused no problem in thirty years is usually not about to start.
Frenectomy near Frisco, Prosper and Plano
Looking for a frenectomy near you? We assess and treat teenagers and adults at 8175 Custer Rd, Suite A110, Frisco, TX 75035. We are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 AM to 6 PM and Saturday from 9 AM to 3 PM. The office is closed Wednesday and Sunday, though our team still answers the phone on Wednesday. Patients come from Frisco and from nearby Prosper, Plano, Little Elm, Allen, Celina and McKinney. Dr. Louie's days here are planned in advance, so call (469) 262-2111 and tell us which release you are asking about.
Request an appointmentWho can benefit from a frenectomy?
The honest version, by age — including the two groups we refer out.
| Feature | Infants | Young children | Teenagers and adults |
|---|---|---|---|
| Done here | No — referred out | No — referred out | Yes |
| Usual reason | Feeding difficulty | Speech, or eating | Gum recession, speech, or orthodontics |
| Evidence is | Mixed — see above | Modest — part of a wider plan | Clear where recession is being driven |
| Anesthetic | — | — | Local |
| Stretches afterwards | — | — | Yes, and they matter |
| Better handled alongside | A lactation consultant | Speech therapy | Treating the recession cause too |
| We decline when | Always — declined every time | Always — declined every time | It has caused no problem |
Why we are careful about recommending a frenectomy
Tongue-tie is one of the few areas of dentistry where the honest risk runs in the direction of over-treatment.
The procedure is short, low-risk and inexpensive relative to most dentistry. Parents arrive worried, often exhausted, frequently having read a great deal online, and generally hoping for something to be done. Every incentive in that room points toward doing it.
Which is exactly why the assessment has to be about function. And why “no” has to be a real possible outcome, decided by what the assessment finds. A frenum that looks tight is not the same as a frenum that limits movement. And a frenum that has caused no problem in thirty years is not about to start.
It is also why we treat from the teenage years onwards and refer everyone younger. Not because releases in babies and small children lack justification — sometimes they are clearly justified. It is because doing them well means doing them often: working alongside a lactation consultant or a speech therapist, and following the aftercare through. A practice that performs them occasionally, for worried parents, in the area where the evidence is weakest, is a practice in exactly the wrong position.
If you have already been told somewhere else that your child needs a release and something about it did not sit right, a second opinion is a completely reasonable thing to ask for.
Related care: laser gum therapy uses the same type of diode laser, periodontics and oral surgery covers the rest of our gum care, and for a younger child see children’s dentistry.
Time in the chair for a frenectomy.
The scale runs to five hours — the same scale on every page, so the bars are comparable across the whole site.
Frenectomy cost in Frisco: what to expect.
If a lactation consultant or speech therapist is already involved, bring their notes — it makes the assessment considerably better.
You get the figure in writing before treatment starts. We accept all major PPO plans and file the claim for you, our membership plan takes a percentage off treatment, and CareCredit financing is available.
How plans usually cover a frenectomy.
Sometimes dental, sometimes medical
- What plans pay
- Surgical work like a frenectomy is often covered as oral surgery on the dental plan — commonly somewhere between 50% and 80% depending on how the plan classes it. Where there is a medical indication, some cases are billed to the medical plan instead.
- Deductible
- Usually applies. And if it goes to the medical plan, that is a different deductible of a different size, often much larger.
What catches people out
- Which plan pays changes the arithmetic completely. We check both before treatment starts, so nothing is billed on a guess.
- Coordination of benefits. Where both plans are involved, the order they pay in is set by fixed rules — not by preference — and getting it the wrong way round delays everything.
- This one genuinely splits. Some dental plans cover a frenectomy, some class it as medical, and a few pay for neither unless there is a documented functional reason. We check both plans before scheduling.
These are how dental plans usually classify this treatment — not a statement about your own plan. Yours is the one that governs, plans differ more than people expect, and the only reliable answer comes from reading your specific benefits, which we always do ahead of treatment and give you in writing.
And what changes out-of-network
A dentist who is in-network has signed a contract fixing what may be charged for each procedure and cannot bill you the difference. One who is out-of-network has signed nothing, so the full fee stands.
So the first difference is the price itself — the same treatment is simply allowed to cost more out-of-network, before anyone's plan is considered.
What you personally pay out of that depends on your own deductible and coinsurance, which is why there is no percentage here: it is not a property of the treatment, it is a property of your plan, and we verify yours before you commit. But two things follow for everybody. Your share is a share of a bigger number. And your annual maximum is spent by what the plan pays toward that bigger number, so the same treatment eats more of your benefit out-of-network.
An illustration, not a quote. Both allowed fees for a frenectomy are not yet on hand, so the chart above shows a crown instead — the one procedure we hold both sides for. The in-network side is today's contracted allowance; the out-of-network side is what a single carrier allowed during a period when we were not contracted with it, and it is a few years old. Across the 23 procedures where we hold both allowed fees, out-of-network is between 1.2 and 5 times the in-network figure — most often a little over twice.
Check the going rate yourself
FAIR Health's dental cost lookup is free, needs no account, and is not ours — it reports what a procedure typically costs in your area. It does not know your plan, so treat it as a ballpark figure — not a final answer.
Ask us for the number first
We verify your specific plan before your appointment and give you a written estimate: what the plan is expected to pay, and what you pay. If we get it wrong we tell you why.
Bring an Explanation of Benefits
Treated somewhere else? Your EOB shows exactly what the plan paid and what it counted against your maximum. Bring one in and we will read it with you — whether or not you become a patient here.
None of this says out-of-network dentists are worse dentists. Plenty are excellent, plenty are out-of-network for sound reasons, and people choose a dentist for who that person is. What we think you are owed is the information, so that whatever you choose, you chose it knowingly. The whole thing, explained properly, or call (469) 262-2111 and ask.
Frenectomy recovery: the first two weeks
- The first hoursEat and drink normally
Once the anesthetic has worn off, ordinary food is fine — just nothing sharp or crunchy against the site for a few days.
- Days 1–3White or yellow patch while healing
The healing site looks white or yellowish. That is normal granulating tissue — not infection. Most children and adults need nothing stronger than an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory.
- Days 1–14Stretches during healing
Gentle, brief, several times a day, exactly as demonstrated. This is what stops the site reattaching, and it is the difference between a release that holds and one that does not.
- Weeks 2–4Rechecking tongue or lip movement
The question is not whether the site healed — it is whether the speech or the gum problem has actually changed. That is what the follow-up is for.
Booking frenectomy — tongue-tie and lip-tie release in Frisco
Bring a speech therapist's assessment if there is one — it makes the difference between a decision based on function and one based on appearance. And if this is about a baby or a young child, please read the panel above before booking: we treat from the teenage years onwards.
- Hours
- Weekdays 9–6
Saturdays 9–3 - Languages
- English, Telugu, Hindi, Urdu
Arabic with Saba, our hygienist, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays
Vietnamese with Anh, our hygienist, Saturdays
Cantonese and Mandarin with Dr. Louie, our periodontist, on his scheduled days, by internal referral
Frenectomy FAQs in Frisco, TX
Grouped so you can go straight to the one you came for.
Frenectomy — Tongue-Tie and Lip-Tie Release — common questions
What is a frenectomy?
Who performs the procedure?
What age do you treat?
Does a frenectomy hurt?
Will a tongue-tie release fix breastfeeding?
Are the stretches afterwards really necessary?
My teenager has speech problems. Is a release the answer?
Can adults have a frenectomy?
Is it covered by insurance?
What if you decide my child does not need it?
Can adults have a tongue tie release?
How long is recovery after a frenectomy?
How much does a frenectomy cost?
Where can I get a frenectomy near me in Frisco?
Toothache at 7am? You'll be seen today.
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White Lotus Dental offers nine dental specialties inside one calm office on Custer Road. Having general dentists and an in-house periodontist on staff means your entire family can receive preventive, restorative, and surgical treatments in one familiar place.
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Specialized gum disease therapy, scaling and root planing (deep cleanings), frenectomies, and periodontal surgery performed by our board-certified periodontist.
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