Dr Shereen Lim

02/03/2026

One of my favourite passions outside of work is seeing live music.

Last night I went to see Bernard Fanning (lead singer of Powderfinger) play at King’s Park, commemorating the 20th year anniversary of his first solo album Tea and Sympathy.

I’ve been attending a fair few 20th year anniversary albums in recent years! And I’m showing my age when the team, and many of the parents of my patients, don’t know who the artists are!

The shows always remind me of different times, people who I attended the original shows with, and special moments. I used to sing one of his songs - Watch Over Me, as a lullaby to my eldest when she was a baby. It also makes me think of an era where we used to buy CDs and listen to a whole album from start to finish!

In 2019 I set and reached a goal to see 12 shows in a year, and it was a great way of doing more of what I love. Then the pandemic hit, and artists couldn’t come. And I never set the goal again.

But after a great evening, I decided today I’m going to continue that goal as a new tradition! If there are any shows you're looking forward to this year, I'd love to hear them!

28/02/2026

I know it’s for old people, as my kids often say, but Facebook is still my favoured social media platform.

I like how there’s no word count for posts - it offers greater opportunity to share deeper insights and promote more discussion.

So as this milestone is reached - thanks for following, interacting, and sharing over the years!

27/02/2026

Consult Update – Children & Adults

Thank you for your patience while we paused booking new patient consults over the past nine months.

Over the past two weeks, our team has begun reaching out in small batches to those who previously requested notification to offer consult appointments. To ensure we can continue caring properly for existing patients, including those returning for reviews, we will not be booking new consults more than three months in advance.

We will continue not to take new patient enquiries by phone. Instead, please email reception@sparkle.dental to be added to our contact list for future appointment availability.

When emailing, please let us know if:
• Your child or a sibling has previously attended
• You are a parent of a current or past patient

We continue to welcome new families. Continuity of care across developmental stages and within families remains an important part of our model.

The minimum age for assessment, beyond infant oral tie consults, is 4 years. Appointments for 4-year-olds will be capped at one per week.

This allows us to prioritise children in a key window for palate expansion, typically ages 5 to 8 years, while maintaining capacity to support adults seeking tongue-tie assessment. Many of our adult patients were previously parents of infants we treated, and continuing to support families across generations remains a rewarding part of our practice.

Children 4 Years and Under

Children in this age group may consider support from a speech pathologist or feeding therapist with additional training in orofacial myofunctional therapy. Many of these clinicians focus on early oral function and airway-related development.

We are not providing individual practitioner names to avoid overwhelming our colleagues or unintentionally contributing to longer wait times elsewhere. Experience and approaches vary, so it is reasonable to ask about specific training when making enquiries.

While we may not be able to see every family immediately, we are grateful for your support, patience, and understanding as we do our best to balance the needs of the different groups we serve.

25/02/2026

Cheek tie release and improvements in nasal and sinus airflow

24/02/2026

Pre and 1-week post release of two upper buccal ties, left lower buccal tie, upper lip tie and tongue tie.

Many adults describe feeling “more space” in their mouth after multiple oral releases and release of facial tension.

In this case, the patient also reported immediate relief of chronic and debilitating facial pain that she has lived with for decades. This improvement, amongst many others, has persisted for several months.

As she puffs air into her upper and lower lips, you can see increased mobility of the perioral tissues post-release, allowing more air to fill the space. This is not a validated assessment, but it’s been a way I've tried to document and support what patients are perceiving.

CAUTION: Avoid puffing air into the cheeks in the first week post-release while the tissue lining is healing, as there is a risk of air tracking into fresh release spaces.

Disclaimer:

Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding, seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner.

23/02/2026

Here’s an entire podcast interview on lower lip and cheek ties.

So grateful to Myohackerslp for the opportunity to share my continually evolving insights in this area!

In episode 39 of The Myohacker Podcast, Karindy interviews Dr. Shereen Lim on oral ties, facial development, and the importance of early intervention for sle...

23/02/2026

Are you interested in ordering bulk copies (30 or more) of Breathe, Sleep, Thrive?

I wrote Breathe, Sleep, Thrive as a resource for parents to help connect the dots between early oral dysfunction (including feeding, speech and breathing challenges) and later outcomes, including altered facial development, orthodontic problems, poor sleep, behavioural concerns, and their impact on long-term health and quality of life - and importantly, what to look for and what families can do about it.

It’s evidence-based, easy to digest, and offers practical guidance. It has proven to be a helpful resource not only for parents, but also for colleagues who have been inspired to learn more, or who have gifted it to their patients and referring colleagues.

Bulk order availability:
• USA
• Canada
• Australia
• UK
• I’m also happy to look into Japan, Germany and other European countries to check pricing.
• At this stage, shipping costs to India and Southeast Asian countries have not made direct bulk order pricing feasible.

Pricing including shipping:
• USD $10 per book (US and Canada)
• AUD $15 per book for all other countries
• Turnaround time is usually under 3 weeks (often quicker)

If you’re interested, please DM me with:
• Quantity required
• Best email for invoicing
• Best mailing address for shipping

There is a further reduced rate for orders of 200+ copies, and I’ve been pleased to celebrate this month that a second organisation has taken advantage of this to provide copies for all their new students moving forward!

Bulk orders and gifting have helped Breathe, Sleep, Thrive reach well over 10,000 readers, and I sincerely appreciate the amazing support in helping spread this resource to more families and colleagues and ultimately promoting better airway health for more children.

20/02/2026

Perth is lucky to welcome US-based speech and myofunctional therapist and trailblazer Linda D’Onofrio back to teach for the second time within the last 12 months.

Our oral health therapists Michele and Anaelle attended last time.

This visit Karli and I are attending all four days of her myofunctional training, along with many of our local speech and other allied health colleagues, as well as some attendees who travelled from across Australia and NZ.

The first two days have proved very inspiring and stimulating, with lots to digest and many practical takeaways to help us improve care.

Over the next couple of days, we will join an advanced course designed for speech and feeding therapists, so we can get a bigger picture of the speech and feeding challenges that are prevalent in our patients, and are often symptoms of tongue tie or poor airway health.

It was not an easy decision to reschedule patients for this week and commit four days to this program.

However, it’s been a very valuable course and one that will change our approach. It’s also been great to connect with colleagues, and support this opportunity for WA clinicians to access world-class training locally.

I’m excited and invested in seeing the community of highly skilled myofunctional therapists grow in WA - not only for patients and families, but to pave the way for more speakers and events to come to Perth in the future.

16/02/2026

Here’s a throwback or replay of one of my very first podcast interviews.

I first heard about Eugenie from many of the families we work with who use her homeopathic remedies, and we always keep on hand a few bottles of her ACH – Arnica, Calendula, Hypericum remedy for families who ask about it.

I appreciated her bringing the topic of children’s airway health and highlighting Breathe, Sleep, Thrive to her audience. And I’m honoured and grateful for this replay to help spread the message further.

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/homeopathy-hangout-with-eug%C3%A9nie-kr%C3%BCger/id1582931618?i=100074827237Me

Podcast Episode · Homeopathy Hangout with Eugénie Krüger · 04/02/2026 · 37m

13/02/2026

Upper cheek x2, upper and lower lip, and tongue-tie releases for a 4 month old - one week post release review

At the one week post 5x oral releases, there was a significant reduction of perioral muscle tension and improved mobility of these tissues.

Mum reported:

✅ Wider latch on the bottle
✅ Improved mouth opening
✅ Increased milk volumes, now up to a record 210 mL - previous record was 150ml and rare
✅ Biggest thing is not falling asleep on the bottle
✅ Osteopath reports relaxation of jaw tension
✅ Wider, more relaxed smile

These photos also illustrate more consistent lip seal at rest with increased upper and lower lip mobility.

Optimal latch is the foundation for optimal oral function.

And it’s become increasingly evident to me that we overlook the facial tension from other ties beyond the tongue that contribute to suboptimal latch and altered facial development.

Disclaimer:

Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding, you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner.

11/02/2026

This is the mouth of an almost 8-year-old that I saw today for a consult regarding dental overcrowding, by referral of her regular dental team who understood I had seen her as an infant.

There are impacted upper first molars, but looking at her mouth I see:

✅ A severely narrowed palate and skeletal crossbite
✅ Tilted upper and lower teeth – even the bone that those teeth sit in has been sculpted inwards
✅ Significant lower dental crowding

The tongue does not have an obvious structural restriction of mobility, but will need to be reassessed after initial myofunctional therapy to train how to better lift and suction the tongue.

I used to think that when the jaws didn’t grow well it was a sign of poor tongue function. That other areas of facial tightness were simply related to the need to recruit or overuse other muscles of the face.

But what I have learnt to identify, more so in the last 6 months, is that when the tongue doesn’t work well, the compensations that we develop are often related to how tight other areas of the mouth and face are.

In this case, there are upper cheek ties, which can contribute to cheek tension that restricts normal development of the width of the palate. The excess pressure of the cheeks can tip the teeth inwards even when, in this case, there is no history of pacifier or digit sucking habits.

There is also a lower lip tie, which I’ve found is associated with lower lip and chin strain, and may be linked to more recessed lower jaws and sometimes lower dental crowding.

Looking closer, it’s possible to see the facial tension of the ring of muscles around her mouth when she smiles, speaks, and swallows.

Form follows function.

What is most humbling for me every day is to see patterns that I was not earlier trained to see and have missed.

Looking at her facial photo when I first met her as a baby in 2018, I can see facial tension at the corners of her mouth, and in her lower lip and chin.

From this, even before I met her again today, I suspected I might find missed cheek and lower lip ties.

When we did her upper lip and tongue tie, it improved the feeding experience from Dad’s perspective. He reported that Mum had been able to stop using ni**le shields and feed successfully for 18 months.

It’s very common – with tongue-tie release there are often feeding improvements and release of full-body tension.

However, when I reflect back on my current patients and see their photos baby photos, I perceive that many of them still weren’t able to achieve optimal latch, with excessive inward facial tension related to other areas of tightness that most of us healthcare professionals were never trained to look at.

For me, I now realise these additional areas of restriction have been a missing link in achieving optimal tongue function, altered facial development, and orthodontic relapse in patients.

I'm in a good position to have many photos and videos of children's faces that span years - I take facial photos at every consult, orthodontic review, oral release and follow up visit.
And looking back at them with this new lens, and seeing what I haven't before is truly humbling.

What I learn from my adult patients helps me learn for my older children, which reshapes how I look at oral function in infancy.

Optimal oral function begins with optimal latch – and this includes looking at the mobility of the lips and cheeks as much as we do the tongue.

I’m not suggesting that addressing additional oral ties will prevent future growth and development issues. But I am inviting colleagues to pay attention. For me, once I’ve seen these patterns over and over again, it’s hard to unsee them.

09/02/2026

Over recent months, colleagues and parents have reached out to me about defamatory and at times “nasty” commentary circulating on social media about my work and our practice. Much of this appears in wide-reaching but unmoderated Facebook groups and is often posted anonymously.

Until recently, I chose not to look into these further, in part because colleagues and parents had been supportive of us. In the past week, as the volume of reports grew – including collaborative colleagues sharing that some parents were expressing uncertainty – I asked to see screenshots of full threads so I could better understand the context. It was disturbing, not only because of the tone of some comments, but because of how powerful these online narratives can be in shaping perception

What concerns me most is the ripple effect on families. I’ve seen parents who initially trusted their choice to see us begin to spiral after reading anonymous posts, suddenly fearful and second-guessing themselves. The process of something like a tongue-tie release is emotionally demanding enough without added layers of fear and hindsight doubt. That burden doesn’t support parents or children and runs counter to the purpose of a support forum.

Healthcare decisions are complex. No single approach is right for every child or family, and seeking second opinions is valid and healthy. The challenge arises when anonymous, unmoderated commentary, whether based on individual experiences or hearsay (including citing opinions of other health professionals), is shared without full context or opportunity for clarification and then amplified into sweeping narratives about intent, ethics, or harm. In these environments, nuance is lost, emotions run high, and stories can quickly take on a life of their own in ways that go well beyond any one family’s experience.

I also want to be transparent about one aspect of our model of care.

For me, this comes down to predictability and safety. Surgical environments rely on calm, consistency, and a predictable flow so the team can focus entirely on the child and the procedure. This is the same reason parents are not usually present in the room for many other surgical procedures. It’s not about hiding anything. It’s about creating the most controlled environment possible for the child and the team involved in their care. We are upfront about this so families can decide whether our approach feels right for them from the start. If it doesn’t, I encourage you to trust that instinct and seek care that feels aligned for you.

One thing that saddened me was realising that one of the posts that generated the most negative commentary, and prompted at least one other parent to anonymously post second-guessing themselves, came from someone who hadn’t raised questions or concerns with me or my team directly. This meant I wasn’t aware there were any hesitations or that there had been a miscommunication. At the same time, I want to thank the parents and colleagues who offered balance and reassurance to a concerned mother in another post.

One of our four core Sparkle values is being a “Trusted Advisor,” and open communication sits at the heart of that. If something doesn’t feel right, we would much rather have the opportunity to talk it through with you directly in the first instance. Often, concerns come down to miscommunication or differing expectations, and many issues can be resolved with clearer understanding both ways. And if you’re not comfortable raising something with me or our front office team, I encourage you to email and arrange a time to speak with our practice manager, Karli.