A frenulum is the small stretchy band that anchors your tongue and your lip in place.

In kid words

"Feel that little stretchy string under your tongue, and another one just inside your top lip? That is called a frenulum, and its whole job is holding things where they belong." Every kid has one in each spot, like a tiny built-in anchor. You cannot really see them working, but they are there every time you talk, smile or take a big bite.

The parent version

Frenulum is the mainstream term for a small band of tissue that anchors a moving part of the mouth to a steadier one nearby. Children have several, but two come up most often: the lingual frenulum, running from the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth, and the labial frenulum, connecting the inside of the upper lip to the gum above the front teeth.

Most frenula stretch easily and never draw much attention. Occasionally one is shorter or tighter than average, sometimes called tongue-tie or lip-tie, and depending on the child that can touch on feeding, speech or the space between the front teeth. None of that is something to work out from a description online. It is exactly the kind of detail worth mentioning at a checkup, so your pediatric dentist can take an actual look.

Where you might hear it at our office

You are just as likely to meet this word after a tumble as you are at a checkup. The labial frenulum is a common casualty of early walking and running years: a bumped mouth can tear it, and because that tissue carries a generous blood supply, even a small tear can look far more dramatic than it is. It usually heals well on its own, and if you are ever unsure how a bump looks, ask your pediatric dentist.

The quieter version of this word shows up at a routine cleaning and exam, where gums, tongue and cheeks all get a look along with the teeth themselves. If a frenulum ever seems unusually tight, that routine visit is exactly the place to mention it. If another word from a visit is still a mystery, the rest of the dictionary is right here.

Related words

Tongue-tie. Lip-tie. Gum line.