Tongue-Tie Release for Children in Winnipeg
Precision frenectomy for kids ages 5–12 with the LightScalpel CO₂ laser — no sutures, and myofunctional therapy before and after, because releasing a tie is half the job.
Dr. John Weselake, DMD · The Breathe Institute (Dr. Soroush Zaghi) · Tongue-Tied Academy
Releases begin October 2026. Myofunctional assessments are booking now — children assessed today are fully evaluated and first in line when the laser program opens.
What is a tongue-tie?
Everyone has frena — the small bands of tissue under the tongue and inside the lips. A tie is a frenum that restricts function. When that happens, a child's body compensates, and the compensation shows up far from the mouth — in speech, chewing, swallowing, breathing, sleep, and how the face and jaws grow.
That distinction drives everything on this page. Measured function — not appearance — determines treatment. Some prominent frena work perfectly. Some subtle ones don't.
Signs a tie may be restricting your child's function
Speech sounds that resist correction — especially R, L, and S — even with speech therapy. Slow, messy, or picky eating, and mealtimes that exhaust everyone. Gagging with certain textures. Mouth breathing, snoring, grinding, or restless sleep. Difficulty sticking the tongue out, sweeping food off the teeth, or licking an ice cream cone.
Each of these signs is measurable, and each has more than one possible cause — which is why the first appointment is a myofunctional assessment.
Why ages 5 to 12 — and why "ready" matters
A release succeeds on the strength of the retraining around it, and retraining takes a child who can participate. By about age five, most children can learn the exercises, follow the stretches, and build the new patterns that make a release hold — and through the growing years, those patterns still change quickly. That is our program's window, and it is also its standard: we treat children when they're ready, not simply when they're referred.
Readiness is part of what the first visit measures. If a child isn't ready yet, we say so, send you home with preparation work, and schedule the release when the timing is right.
For infants and toddlers with feeding concerns, we recommend starting with your lactation consultant and physician — call us and we'll point you toward the right support.
Why therapy surrounds every release
Muscles that developed around a restriction keep their old patterns after the restriction is gone. And every healing wound naturally contracts — tissue left alone tends to tighten back toward where it started. Both problems have the same answer: retraining, timed around the release. It is why every frenectomy at Biosmiles is built as three visits, not one.
The three visits
Visit 1 — Myofunctional consultation. We measure how your child's tongue actually moves: range, elevation, swallow pattern, rest posture, breathing — and readiness. If a release is indicated, your child leaves with pre-release exercises that build tone and awareness, so the tongue is ready to use its new range from the first day of healing. If function is within normal limits, we tell you so, and no release is booked.
Visit 2 — The release. Dr. Weselake performs every release at Biosmiles personally, using the LightScalpel CO₂ laser. The release itself takes minutes, and there are no sutures: the laser seals the site as it works, and healing is protected by guided stretches and therapy instead of stitches.
Visit 3 — Myofunctional follow-up. The site is checked, the stretches are refined, and retraining begins in earnest — during the healing window, when it matters most. This visit is where a good release becomes a lasting result.
Why the LightScalpel CO₂ laser
Not all laser frenectomies are the same, because not all lasers are.
A CO₂ laser operates at 10,600 nm — a wavelength absorbed directly by the water inside soft tissue. It vaporizes precisely at the surface it touches, sealing small vessels as it works, with very little heat traveling into the surrounding tissue. The diode units common in dental offices work differently: their energy passes through soft tissue until it heats a charred fiber tip, which burns rather than incises, sending more collateral heat into the tissue around the release.
The practical difference for a child in the chair: a shorter procedure, minimal bleeding, no sutures, and a more comfortable recovery. The LightScalpel is the instrument in daily use at dedicated tongue-tie centers across North America..
One team, one plan
A release and its therapy usually live in different buildings — a dentist in one clinic, a therapist in another, and a plan held together by the parent in between. At Biosmiles they are one program under one roof: the myofunctional team that assesses your child, the dentist who performs the release, and the follow-up that connects them share one chart, one plan, and one hallway.
What to expect
On release day: numbing, the release itself, and an unhurried review of aftercare before you leave. There are no stitches to manage — the treated area heals open, from the inside out, and a white or yellow patch at the site during the first days is the normal appearance of a healing laser wound, not infection. Simple stretches keep the site mobile while it heals; we demonstrate them with your child, send them home in writing, and check them at the follow-up visit. Most children manage soreness with routine over-the-counter analgesics for a few days.
For referring providers
We work alongside speech-language pathologists, myofunctional therapists, bodyworkers, physicians, and lactation consultants. Referred patients receive a functional assessment with documented findings before any release is recommended, documentation after, and a clear return path to your care. Referrals: 204.975.7575.
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You don't have to know — that is the assessment's job. We measure function, not appearance, and if function is within normal limits we tell you so. Nothing on this page books a release; it books an assessment.
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For our program, ages 5 to 12 — old enough to participate in the exercises that make a release hold, and young in a window where patterns and growth still respond. Within that range, the better question is readiness, which is exactly what the first visit measures.
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No. The CO₂ laser seals the site as it releases, so it heals open, from the inside out — protected by simple guided stretches rather than sutures. The white or yellow patch that appears over the first days is the normal look of a healing laser site.
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The area is numbed with local anesthetic and the release takes minutes. Most children describe pressure rather than pain during the procedure, followed by a few days of soreness managed with routine analgesics.
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Because the release only changes what the tongue can do. Muscles keep the patterns they learned around the restriction, and healing tissue naturally contracts. Preparation before the release and retraining after it are how the new range becomes the new normal — and how re-tightening is kept in check.
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No. Frenectomy at Biosmiles is a three-visit program — consultation, release, follow-up — optimized for outcome.
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Your investment depends on what the assessment finds, and it is reviewed with you in full at the first visit — before anything further is booked. Frenectomy is a standard procedure code on most dental plans. We are a non-assignment practice: you pay at the time of treatment, and we provide everything needed to submit your claim for reimbursement.
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Our release program is built for children ages 5 to 12. Younger children are assessed, prepared, and scheduled when they're ready. For infants, start with your lactation consultant and physician. If your situation falls outside this range, call us — we'll tell you plainly whether we're the right fit, or who is.
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Every healing wound contracts — that is biology, not a complication. The stretches, the timing of therapy, and the built-in follow-up visit exist specifically to manage it. If tissue begins to tighten, we see it early and adjust.
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A release removes a physical restriction; it doesn't perform the retraining. Improvement depends on therapy, consistency, and the individual child — which is why all three visits are built into the program rather than promised from the procedure alone.
Start with the assessment.
Every release at Biosmiles begins the same way — a measured look at how your child's tongue actually functions.
Serving Winnipeg and communities across Manitoba, including Steinbach, Winkler, Morden, Niverville, Headingley, Portage la Prairie, and Brandon.