Friday, June 19, 2009

The "tooth" about our trip to the dentist...

Can I tell you how long it took me to come up with that title? If you think it is cheesy, you should read the little poems I come up with for the kids' birthday invitations :)

Anyway, Max and Abby had an appointment with the dentist yesterday. I found out that Max is a serious teeth grinder. Which is strange because I've NEVER heard him do that before. I hear Abby doing it all the time at night but not Max. They pointed out that the tops of his teeth are flat and smooth, even his canine teeth, which are supposed to be pointed. Huh. One of his 6 year molars has broken through and the xrays revealed the other 3 are moving into position as well. I guess that would explain his unexplainable moodiness and cranky behavior at times :) He has perfect spacing between his teeth (WHICH HE DID NOT INHERIT FROM ME!) and everything looked great.

Abby, poor sweet dear little Abby, not as good. She, unfortunately, DID inherit my teeth. In a nutshell, we were told to "start saving our money". X-rays revealed that her permanent teeth are moving into position, too bad all those positions are crooked! She will more than likely follow in her mom's footsteps and be sporting braces in the future...she'll probably want to know if she can get them in pink :) The news for now isn't so hot either. Her teeth are so crowded and smashed together that she is at a much higher risk for cavities. She has some. As a matter of fact they are between the teeth, not on the top and the dentist is seriously recommending doing a root canal (it's different on baby teeth) and crowning two molars that are the worst.

Before you think we are neglecting our kids' teeth, we are not. I brush their teeth myself (I have watched them do it themselves and I know they weren't getting the job done) and they do not eat a lot of sweets. They do have some, but in moderation. I hate the idea of her having to go through this but I also don't want her to have more serious issues down the road. The dentist gave her a prescription toothpaste to use until we can get her in there. Also, the reason why we wouldn't just pull the teeth is because they are between other teeth which would shift and not leave enough room for the permanent molars to come in. If they had been the back molars it might be a different story.

The kids both did a great job at their appointment. Max was fascinated by looking at the x-rays of his teeth :) Abby even went back to get her x-rays without me...big girl. I was so proud of both of them. Even Lucy behaved herself while we were there. It's her turn next...

1 comment:

Virginia Dentists said...

You have to be very careful when it comes to grinding teeth. My mom said it was nothing but now I lost quite a small fortune on repairing my front teeth.