Pediatric Dentist

Today was a very busy day. A good and bad day. Good because we met with a new pediatric dentist for the kids. Arabella had only seen our family dentist, but we recently discovered she had a spare tooth causing problems in the front of her mouth. So we decided it would be better to just take the kids to someone who specializes. We met with Dr. Thomas and are very impressed with his handling of children and everything in their office. It's all geared towards children and they use alternative terminology for common dental terms so as to put the kids at ease.

Arabella started off by showing the dentist how to brush the fish's teeth (pic above). She did a very good job and followed directions rather well. After "exploring" her mouth and "tooth counting" he wanted to get a "picture" of her teeth to determine how far up into her jaw the tooth is. So she got to sit on Daddy's lap with the lead apron and "bite a cookie" while the assistant took her "picture." Oh and of course we brought P.J. for support.

After reviewing the x-ray he gave us two options. 1) We let the new tooth grow in as far as it can, let it push her teeth around even more and cause her pain in the process and make for a more difficult procedure later or 2) We pull the tooth that is already in as it is the "spare" tooth. This will allow her baby tooth to grow in, in the proper place, and she has an 80% chance of the tooth twisting into the correct position. Once in, the teeth surrounding it should be relieved of pressure and the gap should fill in once the teeth move back to their original positions. Of course if the tooth doesn't twist properly it isn't that big of a deal because it is only a baby tooth.

Given our dental history she's going to need braces anyways, so no harm, no foul. We obviously decided to go with the second option and we will go back in two weeks to have her "tooth wiggled out after they give her some sleepy juice." We do have the option to put her under general anesthesia, but that costs $500 up front and then we would get reimbursed, but I'm not concerned about her needing it. I think she'll be just fine with the shot (aka sleepy juice) and I will be holding her while she gets the shot. The upswing is once she's all ready to she'll be able to stare up at the ceiling and watch cartoons. He also said that the numbing part is the longest part of the procedure, the actual pulling (aka wiggling of the teeth) will take a whole 30-60 seconds. I think in the end, this is the best decision for her and she'll be much happier once she heals. Maybe then she can get back to eating normally, given she's still working on three more molars.