I’m feeling grateful and very blessed to serve our amazing patients. Stories and testimonials like this bring my team and I so much joy and reminds me of why I became a Dentist.
Sincerely,
Dr. Robert H. Thornton, DMD
Here is a wonderful post that Mandy Xa shared on her Facebook page and included the tag of our office in her post:
Mandy Xa Facebook Post:
Long post ahead regarding oral ties!!
I’m sharing this info publicly because these practitioners have been excellent and deserve the praise. AND, to make other moms aware of this stuff- I had NO clue that oral ties were even a problem until Alice…
We went to Alice’s 1 month check up and I had some concerns. She was spitting up a lot, fussy, gassy, constant intense hiccups and pulling back in discomfort when she nursed. Nursing was painful and it was really taking a toll on both of us. My best friend (a pediatric ot) had mentioned weeks earlier that Alice looked to have a mild lip tie, but at the time we didn’t have any problems so I didn’t think anything else about it.
At the 1 month visit we did some troubleshooting with our fabulous nurse practitioner Mary Claire Harlow (she was at All Better but has recently left to start her own practice in collierville opening in January – it will be called integrative pediatrics). She acknowledged that Alice appeared to have a lip tie, but she recommended we see a specialist that could be sure. She thought she could have mild silent reflux and wrote me a rx for Pepcid but said if it didn’t help quickly to move forward with the oral tie consult.
After asking around and doing my own research I really felt like her issues were not reflux and most likely oral ties. I knew that if we were going to have release, I wanted the BEST dr. numbing agents, and laser. A friend (Jasmin Day of New Day Healing and Wellness) recommended Dr Robert H. Thornton, DMD, PLLC in Tupelo and he checked all the boxes.
Dr Thornton and his entire office were awesome. They got us in the next day. We filled out some paper work (She literally had 10/10 of the symptoms) watched some videos on how oral ties, the revision process, aftercare, and he assessed her… it turned out that she had upper lip tie, upper cheek ties (buccal ties), and tongue tie. We swaddled her up, the numbed her mouth, and took her back for less than 10 minutes. She was clearly not happy when they brought her to me, but after some snuggles and nursing and genexa tylenol all was fine.
Part of having ties released is doing the aftercare and bodywork. I learned so much about how involved the tongue and mouth are literally influential in every part of the body. We were sent to feeding therapist Ginny Gordon Swindoll at Irby Psychological Services, LLC in Southaven. She gave us help on retraining Alice on how to latch with her new abilities and range of motion. She has a high palate and gagged very easily – that means no paci or bottles would work. We took home some exercise assignments and great bottle recommendations that have worked perfectly.
We also found a great physical therapist specializing in Myofacial release, Grace Vedala at MFR Yoga via the TN tongue tie fb group and then later rec’d by Ginny. Grace has been wonderful- she’s great with Alice and she literally did the stretches on me / in my mouth so that I could understand how to do them for Alice. She’s worked through her entire body and we leave feeling like she got fabulous treatment as well as know how we can continue at home.
Last, but certainly not least, we love Dr Allison L. Bomar-Hyong at Midtown Chiropractic and Vital Principal Functional Medicine. She has been an integral part of our journey while I was pregnant and she’s been seeing Alice since she was a month old. When we leave Dr Bomar, Alice always has a good poop and long nap when we get home!
Anyway, I wanted to share all that because it was a wild ride. I think having a team that knows each other and works well together is important! (Dr Thornton sent me to Ginny, Ginny sent me to Grace) I didn’t have any issues with Ace nursing but he refused bottles. After all this I looked and he also has the same ties, as does Johnny. I just felt so validated as a mother – I knew something wasn’t right and it wasn’t reflux and I’m glad we didn’t keep giving her meds she didn’t need. We’re 6 weeks post revisions and doing great!
