Friday, May 8, 2015

Dental visit

A couple of weeks ago, I took Zadie and her sister, Beatrix, to the dentist for regular check ups.  It had been about a year since Zadie's last dental visit.  She was such a cooperative kid for the dentist!  Considering how willful (to put it nicely) she can be, it was amusing to hear the dentist and the assistant gush about how great she was.  She sat where they wanted her to, opened her mouth when they wanted her, etc.  The dentist saw a small cavity, unfortunately.  They don't normally take x-rays this young (Zadie will be 4 this month), but the dentist wanted to confirm her belief that the cavity was not very deep.  Since it isn't very deep, and since she's so cooperative, they plan on taking care of the cavity using just novocaine.  They mentioned using laughing gas, but with her airway issues, it would be best if we could avoid anything like that. 



In looking at the x-rays, Dr. Emelie noticed that one of her permanent adult teeth is missing.  She said it's possible that it's there, but just isn't showing up, but it looks like it's not there.  From what we have heard from other parents on Pierre Robin Sequence groups we're in on Facebook, it seems like a fairly common occurrence.  I'm interested to find out just how common it is. 

Additionally, one of her teeth is loose already.  It's one of the front upper teeth. Last year, she had a bad fall which badly bruised her gum, and that could have contributed to this.  Coincidentally (or maybe ironically?) the loose tooth is in the spot where there is no adult tooth. 

The dentist office has an orthodontist in the office some days, and Dr. Emelie suggested that Zadie see him at one point, just to have him take a look.  He happened to be in the office that day and took a quick look.  He said there's nothing to do now, but we'll talk more down the road.  Kids with PRS often have lots of dental issues, so I guess we're already starting to see that. 

She's going back next week to get the cavity taken care of. 

5 comments:

  1. Kudos to Zadie for being such a trooper! It’s nice that she wasn’t afraid of the dentist and the hygienist, although it was too bad that she has a cavity to deal with. But I’m sure they’ll patch it up with no problems. As for the missing adult tooth, it is best to just observe it for now. Hopefully that loose tooth won’t come out for some time yet, so that you can maybe get an x-ray in a few months’ time to check that area again. Anyway, I hope you guys are having a great day so far.

    Freddie Gray @ Ballantyne Dentistry

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading and thanks for your thoughts! The tooth is still hanging in there!

      Delete
  2. Despite the unfortunate situation with the cavity and loose teeth, it’s good to know that she handled the procedures quite well. How is Zadie’s dental health doing nowadays? Has she lost the front teeth that were loose already? Whichever it was, I hope things are doing better now. Thanks for sharing this with us!


    Benny Murray @ Dental Care of South Jersey

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading! Her tooth is still hanging on, but it's very loose. Her big brother lost a tooth last week and now she's very interested in losing hers!

      Delete
  3. My little guy just had his first real dental visit and he did great, too! It's funny how the things we think they'll be afraid of don't bother them at all, but then something simple will freak them out. It sounds like you've got a great dentist; that's so critical to having healthy kids!

    Tyler Williford @ Marzo Smile

    ReplyDelete