Australasian Society for Tongue and Lip Ties (ASTLiT) 'Cutting Edge' Symposium

Bridget Ingle is a Lactation Consultant of 23 years working in private practice in Brisbane. She has a background in paediatric nursing, midwifery and as a volunteer breastfeeding counsellor with ABA before her certification as an IBCLC in 1992. Bridget has worked continually in the field of breastfeeding, lactation support and education since then and has completed orofacial myology study. Bridget has considerable experience and special interest in all causes of suck anomalies, at-breast feeding line use, and cleft lip/palate. Bridget is co-founder of ASTLiT. 

Dr Hazelbaker has been in private practice for nearly 40 years. She has been cross trained in several modalities to best assist her clients. She is a licensed massage therapist, a craniosacral therapist, a pre and perinatal educator, a certified Rhythmic Movement practitioner, and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She teaches the series of classes that comprise the Certified Independent Lactation Therapist Diploma program that features craniosacral therapy as the foundational skill.

Dr Todd is Senior Lecturer at the Australian National University Medical School, and CMO in the Department of Neonatology at the Centenary Hospital for Women and Babies in Canberra, Australia. He has been working in Neonatology for 34 years - first as a scientist obtaining a MSc and PhD in Neonatal respiratory physiology and pathology and then studying medicine to qualify in 1999. His main areas of interests are 1) infant ventilation and the development of the newborn lung, 2) retinopathy of prematurity and 3) infant nutrition including breastfeeding and the treatment of tongue tie in problematic breastfeeding. He was first trained to divide tongue ties in Southampton UK in 1999 and then on returning to Westmead Hospital in Sydney in 2002 started up the practice of tongue tie division there. He moved to Canberra in 2006 and has been treating babies with tongue tie and breastfeeding difficulties since that time.

Dr Mahony is a world renowned Specialist Orthodontist who has spoken to thousands of practitioners about the benefits of interceptive orthodontic treatment. Early in his career Dr Mahony learned from leading clinicians about the dramatic effect functional appliance therapy can provide patients in orthodontic treatment. He has been combining the fixed and functional appliance approach ever since. His lectures are based on the positive impact such a combined treatment approach has had on his orthodontic results and the benefits this philosophy provides from a practice management viewpoint.

Monica Hogan is a registered nurse, midwife and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant who works both in private practice in Canberra and in the Staff Development Unit for ACT Health at the Canberra hospital. She has been president of ACT Lactation Consultants Association and was on the inaugural board of the LCANZ organisation. She has a strong interest in tongue ties and is a foundation member of the International Affiliation of Tongue-tie Professionals. She first divided tongue ties in the UK in 1999 and was lead investigator in the first randomised controlled trial on the division of tongue ties in Southampton UK. She continues to have a strong interest in tongue tie division and as part of her role in the Staff Development Unit has developed a credentialing process for midwives and doctors for the division of tongue ties.

Dr Yvonne LeFort, a family medicine doctor trained in Canada, has practised breastfeeding medicine for over 20 years and runs a private breastfeeding clinic in Auckland, New Zealand. She is the first author of the ABM’s Position Statement on Ankyloglossia and Breastfeeding Dyads 2021, a contributor to New Zealand Aotearoa National Guidance for the Assessment, Diagnosis and Surgical Treatment of Tongue-Tie in Breastfeeding Neonates and a co-author of Complications and Misdiagnoses Associated with Infant Frenotomy: Results of a Healthcare Professional Survey (International Breastfeeding Journal 2022.) along with several other clinical protocols.

Alana Yarrow is a mother of three children; Zachary aged five, Hannah aged three and a half, and Liam one year. Each of Alana’s three children took her on a personal journey of tongue ties and upper lip ties. Currently on maternity leave, Alana works at Powerlink Queensland as an SAP Business Analyst specialising in the warehouse and materials management modules.  Whilst on maternity leave Alana is kept busy looking after the three children and plans to return to work next year. She also enjoys traveling with her family around Australia and the South Pacific.

Dr Kestenberg has been a dentist in Private Practice for over 30 years. He is a consultant at Monash Medical Centre in Prosthodontics and Clinical Demonstrator and examiner for final year dental students at the University of Melbourne Dental School.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons.

Holly Puckering lives in Tasmania, Australia, with her husband and two children. Holly graduated as a Speech Language Pathologist from The University of Queensland and began working in the field of Early Intervention for children with significant disability and delay. From 2006-2014, Holly has been the Senior Speech Pathologist for Rehabilitation at the Royal Hobart Hospital in Tasmania. In this role she has worked with people of all ages with communication disorders and dysphagia. After experiencing first-hand in 2008 with her first child the difficulties that tongue tie can bring, Holly developed a special interest in dysphagia management and oral myofunctional disorders. In 2011 she opened a private practice dedicated to the rehabilitation of oral functional disorders. This practice is now a specialised multidisciplinary team dedicated to cutting edge care and supporting collaborative research into this field. Holly also helped form local networks across Australasia, culminating in 2013 with the formation of ASTLiT. 

Sharon Perrella is a research fellow at the Geddes Hartmann Human Lactation Research Group at The University of Western Australia and works as a IBCLC at One For Women. Sharon has an extensive clinical background in neonatal nursing, and experience as a peer breastfeeding counsellor with the Australian Breastfeeding Association.

She has a special interest in preterm breastfeeding, and milk production. Since being awarded a PhD in 2015 Sharon has used ultrasound and intraoral vacuum measurement to examine sucking dynamics and suck-swallowbreathe coordination, while her current work focuses on the identification and management of women at risk of reduced breastfeeding duration.

After 10 years of postgraduate study in chiropractic paediatrics, clinical neurology and Chiropractic adjusting techniques, Dr Clark achieved an International certification in Craniopathy (the study, diagnosis and treatment of cranial and cranial nerve faults affecting the health and well-being of an individual).Co-Author of ‘Abundant Health’ and now 16 years into his career, Dr Clark loves working with patients and lecturing nationally and internationally on specific aspects of adjusting for these cranial faults. He is continually looking for a greater understanding of the relationship of cranial reflex patterns and their ongoing effect on the health of an individual.

Imogen Fisher is a paediatric Occupational Therapist working at The Royal Children’s Hospital. She has an interest in newborn and infant development having worked with a range of children with complex medical needs within the special care and hospital environments. Imogen is a mother to two boys with tongue and lip restrictions. 

Carla graduated from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, with a Bachelor of Applied Health Science (Oral Health) in 2000. Carla has worked for the majority of her hygiene career in neuromuscular dental practices, and has trained extensively in the United States and Australia in dental hygiene, respiratory education and orofacial myology. Carla’s passion for helping children saw her open Australia’s first everprivate practice dedicated to noxious habits in 2011 called The Thumbsucking Clinic. She is currently involved in research with James Cook University to establish the efficacy of her programs in the closure of open bites. Carla is the current Vice President of the Australian Association of Orofacial Myology and co-lecturer for The Australian Orofacial Myology Lecture Series. Carla is passionate about education and awareness of orofacial myofunctional disorders amongst the health community.

Anna Millichamp is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and PhD scholar. After graduating with first class honors from Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane in 2009, Anna was awarded the highly sought after graduate placement at Sydney Children's Hospital (SCH) as a Paediatric Dietitian. It was during her work at SCH that Anna discovered her interest in paediatric feeding challenges and completed the Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) Approach to Feeding training. In 2011 Anna departed SCH to move with her husband to Byron Bay where she commenced her private dietetics practice and worked as a Research Assistant at Queensland University of Technology on various projects. Anna commenced her PhD in 2012 but took leave to have her first child. During this leave, Anna rediscovered her passion for paediatric feeding issues. She returned to her PhD in June 2014 with her current research focus: Improving available evidence for feeding children with oral anatomical defects to achieve optimal nutritional outcomes and minimise feeding difficulties.

Dale Hansson is a mother of 5 boys. She has been a registered nurse for 33 years and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant for 12 years. In 2008, Dale’s husband (Dr Tony Nigro) was trained to perform frenotomies by Dr David Todd. Thereafter, Dale and Tony began treating tongue tie as a team at their practice in southern Sydney. In 2009 Dale took part in the first meeting of the International Affiliation of Tongue-Tie Professionals. Dale continues to value the wisdom and experience of these professionals.

Dr Daniel Ford is a registered specialist in Paediatric Dentistry. He is in private practice with the Paediatric Dental Group, in Brisbane, Toowoomba, Ipswich and the Sunshine Coast. Dr Ford’s qualifications include Honours degrees in Science and Dentistry, Masters in Paediatric Dentistry and Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons. He holds accreditation as a visiting specialist with numerous hospitals in South East Queensland, including the Mater Children’s, Royal Children’s and St Andrew’s Hospitals. Dr Ford is actively engaged in research in his specialty and has numerous national and international publications. He is an examiner of those undertaking paediatric specialty training throughout Australia. Dr Ford is a lecturer at The University of Queensland and Griffith University and is a sought-after presenter at symposiums and conferences.

Dr Ford grew up on the land in south west Queensland. Whilst the calling to the paediatric specialty has always been dominant, he has travelled a somewhat adventurous path along the way, including research in the fields of zoology and conservation at The University of Queensland, working with the awesome saltwater crocodile; and service as an Officer in the health branch of the Royal Australian Air Force for many years.

As a paediatric specialist, Dr Ford has extensive training and experience in the diagnosis and management of oral and dental anomalies, trauma, pathology and disease in infants, children and adolescents. As an expert in his field, lip and tongue tie is a common condition seen in Dr Ford’s practice. Diagnosis, management and research of lip and tongue tie is a priority for Dr Ford.

Robyn comes from a nursing/midwifery background qualifying as an IBCLC in 1990. Since then she has worked in both a private hospital and a large Tertiary hospital as a Lactation Consultant, gaining experience in challenging situations helping establish breastfeeding with both well and sick babies and helping mothers achieve their goals for feeding.

Robyn is an educator and assessor for the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative.

In the past 18 months she has developed a Private Lactation Consultant Practice identifying a large percentage of babies presenting with feeding complications due to tongue and lip ties. These babies are managed using a team approach by a lactation consultant, speech pathologist and a dental surgeon at The Lindisfarne Clinic Hobart and where appropriate proceed to laser release of ther ties.