Effect of diode laser frenectomy on tongue anatomy and function – Clinical cases

This article describes two clinical cases of pediatric patients aged 9 years who were diagnosed with alteration of the lingual frenulum and subsequently underwent diode laser frenectomy after multidisciplinary clinical evaluation. Post-surgical functional and phonetic changes were evaluated using the Marchesan Protocol for Lingual Frenulum Assessment and the Wong-Baker Pain Face Scale. The cases presented showed improvements in anatomical parameters and tongue motricity after frenectomy. However, analysis of phonetic changes revealed that immediate improvements were most evident in the less complex sounds, while more challenging phonetic changes (such as reservation, omission, and substitutions and phonemes) required further rehabilitation. This result reinforces that surgical intervention is only one component of the therapeutic process and must be complemented by an interdisciplinary approach that includes speech therapy adapted to the patient's specific needs to improve clinical and functional results.