The Usefulness of Picture Consonant Articulation Test Determining the Effectiveness of Frenotomy in Ankyloglossia Patients

Abstract

Ankyloglossia, also known as tongue tie, is a disease characterized by abnormally short frenulum. It is a relatively common congenital disease with incidence ranging from 2.08% to 10.7% and a male to female ratio of 3:1. The diagnosis and treatment as well as the symptoms of ankylogossia remain controversial among researchers. However, it is well known that ankyloglossia causes movement disorder of the tongue, resulting in lactation failure, speech articulation disorders, dysphagia, oral motor disorders, and respiratory disorders. To correct ankyloglossia, tongue tie division, frenotomy is the mainstay surgery. However, there is no clear evidence on the effect of this surgical treatment. The main purpose of the operation is to correct speech articulation disorder. During childhood, language acquisition is not complete. Therefore, objective inspection of speech articulation is very difficult. Picture consonant articulation test (PCAT) (Kim and Shin 2004) is a test designed to assess the ability of a child to modulate consonant pronunciation while the child is naturally looking at a painting. The objectives of this study were to: 1) determine the extent of speech articulation disorder Head and Neck Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg 2015;58(10):694-8 / pISSN 2092-5859 / eISSN 2092-6529