357: Tongue Ties & Sleep Issues Every Parent Should Know | Dr. Tracy Tran

Be Well by Kelly Leveque

Kelly Leveque

Education, Nutrition, Alternative Health, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2025

⏱️ 80 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Tracy Tran, a Newport Beach-based dentist who combines clinical precision with a compassionate, family-centered approach. She’s built her private practice around helping children thrive through early diagnosis and treatment of tethered oral tissues (TOTs) and orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMDs), which can affect everything from feeding and speech to sleep and overall development.

We talk about her journey into dentistry and motherhood, how she became passionate about airway health, and why collaboration between dentists, pediatricians, and specialists is key to helping kids reach their full potential. Dr. Tran breaks down what parents should know about tongue ties, mouth breathing, and early intervention, plus how oral health connects to a child’s whole-body wellness.

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Topics Discussed:

→ What are tethered oral tissues?

→ How do tongue ties affect kids?

→ When should tongue ties be treated?

→ What is airway health in children?

→ How to make dental visits positive?

Transcript

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0:00.0	10 millimeters of expansion is going to give you a 20%, 25% increase of nasal volume.
0:06.0	You'll breathe that much better in your nose.
0:08.0	That's crazy.
0:09.0	So people don't consider that we're not, when we expand, we're not just treating this and making room for the teeth and making room for the tongue to sit up in there too.
0:18.0	Yeah.
0:19.0	We're actually opening up the nasal cavity that's
0:21.6	getting wider. And so we're treating the whole nasal maxillary complex. You're listening to Be Well by
0:29.5	Kelly Leveck. Dr. Tracy Tran graduated from USC's Ostrass School of Dentistry and has advanced training in oral
0:38.7	surgery and pediatric dentistry along with a master's in biomedical science. She combines
0:44.4	clinical precision with a compassionate, family-centered approach to care in Newport Beach,
0:48.9	California. Since being in private practice, Dr. Tran has focused her continued education
0:54.0	on pediatric
0:55.0	tethered oral tissue, TOTs, and its relationship with oral dysfunction in order to diagnose
1:01.5	oral facial, myofunctional disorders, or OMDs. This includes difficulties with infant nursing,
1:08.1	toddler feeding and swallowing, speech articulation, and pediatric
1:11.8	sleep disorder breathing. She has successfully treated these patients through a collaborative team
1:16.3	approach and continues to expand her knowledge and experience in this niche specialty.
1:22.0	Dr. Tracy Trin, I finally got you across the table. I'm so glad. I know. You're so sweet.
1:28.0	I'm like excited for this.
1:29.3	I've been looking forward to this.
1:30.5	Oh, honestly, I feel like if anyone can explain airway health and tongue ties and expansion
1:35.8	just to like the moms who need to hear it most and the dads, you're that person.
	...

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