(We saw the dentist at the Commission, but he is retiring at the age of 85, and - I kid you not - he miscounted Jack's teeth. The sum total of his advice is always, "Brush your teeth!" Then he hands me a Princess Tiana toothbrush and sends us on our way.)
My kids adore Dr. Wendy - and she is a Commission provider, even though she doesn't come to clinic. She is competent, has excellent bedside manner, and Will always liked how pretty she was. When Jack got into the chair, he wasn't particularly happy, but once I signed to him (have I mentioned we are signing again? Yay!) that we were going to brush his teeth, he lay really still waiting. He let them clean his teeth and even take x-rays. He did so well that the hygienist said she wanted him to teach the 10 year olds to be still in the chair.
We have been concerned with Jack's lack of teeth - he has four on the top (the middle two, and the first two molars) and six on the bottom (the middle four, and the first two molars). Dr. T (the IA doc) was concerned that the top ones might be missing on both sides. But we got good news at the dentist.
Dr. Wendy says that all of his baby teeth are present, but she isn't completely sure of the position of the baby tooth nearest to the cleft. It was a frontal x-ray, and she said it is possible the tooth is far back in the palate, and the plastic surgeon may need to remove it during the palate repair. Or maybe it is where is is supposed to be and will be nothing at all. She could also see the permanent teeth buds growing, in all of their crooked glory. The only one not visible was the one nearest the cleft, which probably isn't there at all. Kate is completely missing this same tooth.
Posts (so far) about Jack's cleft issues:
Posts (yet to come) about Jack's cleft issues:
- ENT (and probably more audiology)
- Early Intervention (this one might be a doozy)
- Speech (even though this is part of EI, it might get it's own post)
No comments:
Post a Comment