I didn't read through everything. All I have to say is that I recommend not doing it. It's silly. They gave me the same rec with my firstborn and then told me if I opted out, he might be fine since it would probably just stretch. Well, it did and he nursed fine will I weaned him after a year. The really strange thing though is that I just took my son to the dentist a few months ago -- he's 10 now -- and the dentist recommended he get his frenulum clipped because it's shorter than avg. I asked what the point would be since he shows no signs of speech impediment. The dentist said, "Well, he won't be able to do this like everyone else" and he proceeded to touch his chin with his tongue.
Yeah, buddy. Whatever.

Things like this crack me up ;) I remember having my clipped, probably about 9 I think? It hurt, and I don't think it did anything. They told me I needed it b/c I couldn't stick my tongue out a certain way; that it wouldn't hit above my top lip. Whatevs! Seriously, I could eat, drink, spit, stick my tongue out at kids, eat an ice cream cone....but that all important stick-your-tongue-above-your-top-lip-thing was oh so important ;)

I think there must be different degrees of how bad this can be for some. I have a friend who never had it done(until high school) and her speech has always been very hard to understand. If you try talking with your tongue pinned behind your bottom teeth, that is about how her speech is. She could not even stick her tongue very far out from between her teeth (if that makes sense). She begged to have it done in HS, because she hated not being able to say certain words, and was picked on about it a lot. She had it clipped, and it did help some. She said it was still very difficult to change her speech after talking that way for so long.

I agree it depends on the severity of it. Aralyn could not stick her tongue out past her gums, she was able to nurse but it was causing me pain because her tongue was not cushioning my nipple from her gums clamping down. I am glad we had it done, it wasn't a big deal and it did help with nursing. I didn't want to wait till she was bigger to wait and see if it would cause problems with speech. She still can't stick her tongue out too far but it will go past her teeth now.