Well...the Dental verdict is in

This has been a very busy week for us, yet again. We had more DR appointments, more visits from EI to set up the IFSP and therapy for Kayla, and both the kids have been sick. Mikayla needs to be 100% by Sunday because we are going to celebrate Devon's 1st Birthday with her! (you can find Devon on my blogroll....HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEVON!)

Today after I dropped Alec off at preschool I took Mikayla to the Pediatric Dentist...something I have had set up for three weeks and in one way looking forward to and in another dreading. Well, my fears came true and were confirmed by the Dentist today. When he came in to examine her she had a royal cow. Seriously. She is 16 months old and some strange dude is putting gauze and a bite stick in her mouth and we are all holding her down. Ummmm...it was not fun at all. In fact, it was painful for ME to endure so I can't imagine how SHE must have felt. He checked it out and said the "cleft tooth" is actually called a "twin tooth." What this means is that her bottom canine tooth on that side fused with the other tooth to make a split, or cleft tooth. This tooth is extremely vulnerable to cavities given the deep split because there is little enamel in the split itself. Therefore, we had to SEAL the tooth. OMG poor child. So he brought in his "team" of people and I held down her legs, one nurse had one arm, the other nurse the other arm, the OTHER nurse her head, and then the dentist sealed it. Sound fun? Ummmmm. NO. She screamed so hard she is now HOARSE. This took about FIFTEEN minutes to complete. But wait! The fun doesn't end there! After that we had to go into the other room and have an X-Ray done...this is where my worst fears became confirmed...by the X-ray. I put on the vest and had to bear hug Mikayla and then they dropped her down on my knees (I was sitting) and put a vest over her. Then the "team" held her down while they put the films in and took the X-rays. Needless to say...she is never going to want to see these people again in her life. In fact, after we were back in the room, when one of them even LOOKED at her she started crying again and clung to me for dear life. But we had to do this...as traumatic as it sounds. That tooth had to be sealed because if a cavity were to form in the twin tooth then it would almost be a guaranteed root canal. Now imagine THAT on a 1 year old!

Ok so what did the X-rays confirm. Well....Mikayla has no bottom canine teeth. She doesn't have them now and she will not get them in when her adult teeth come in. She will never, ever have canine teeth on the bottom. What are canine teeth? They are the pointy teeth beside your middle four teeth. Not only will she never have them, but her adult tooth could be a twin tooth as well, which will have to be filled and capped. AND...her molars are misplaced. They are right beside her bottom four middle teeth, because, well....SHE HAS NO CANINE'S! What is this caused from? It could be genetic, which of course we will NEVER know but more likely it was caused from malnourishment in the womb. As in, lack of prenatal vitamins and poor diet.

I am sad tonight. I am. I am not a vain person but let's face it...no one wants their children to have a deformity and hers is noticeable. In the future, and we are talking YEARS ahead, she may have to have some teeth pulled and the possibility of having replacement teeth put in is not out of the question yet. I know how mean kids can be. I know how they tease. I was teased and I don't want my daughter, who already has more to deal with then other children, to have to endure one more thing. I don't want her to stop smiling because she is embarrassed either. I just feel bad. Maybe she won't care...maybe it won't bother her one bit...but maybe it will...and her mommy will hurt for her, because I am her mommy and that's what mommy's do.

This is Alec's Preschool Picture. We got it back today and I scanned it. I wish he would have SMILED in it more but I still love it...and him:-)


Does my mom have the camera again?
She was playing PEEK A BOO here
Toddling along...
Look Aunt Gina!! See what I do now to the chair you got me!? This is the BEST...I have even pulled it over the window so I can look outside...how smart am I!?
Peek A Boo...I SEE YOU MOM!

OMG she is sitting!!!! For like 2 seconds..don't worry..it wasn't prolonged. LOL.
Ready for bed! Ok don't mind the oily face thing. Her face is chapped a little around her mouth and I have putting Vaseline on it at night and at naptime.
Mom...I know you like the camera but are you really taking pics of me in BED!?
Oh yeah...that's what she's doing alright. My mom is kind of a nutcase!
MOM....ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Enlarge this picture and you can probably see her twin tooth on the left.) OH...and check out that crib slat in the background where my child chewed it to the WOOD like a beaver!