I've talked about Riley's dental issues here before, but we were back at the dentist's office so I might as well update you. To do a quick recap, Riley's had a lot of cavities so far and had to have metal caps for 6 of her molars. She had some other work done at the time and we thought we were good for awhile, but then one of the teeth under a cap started rotting and it had to be taken out. Since it was a molar and the new tooth wouldn't come in for years, they had to place a spacer in there so her teeth grow in straight. They told us that it might come out, but that it probably won't... but it did.
So we brought her back in to have it replaced. They were a little surprised at how the metal piece had changed shape, but it makes me wonder if her front teeth coming in had anything to do it that. She's like me - she has an overcrowding issue in her mouth so her new teeth coming in don't really have a space to go so they are coming in all crooked and probably pushing on other teeth. It's clear she'll need braces and we've now been told that we should bring her to the orthodontist next summer.
She's been a trooper about this all in the last year which isn't reflective of the crying and distress we encountered when she was younger. I'm proud of her, but feel bad that she has to go through all this. I probably worry too much, because when I think back about my own teeth (which were horrible - I had 2 teeth behind my front teeth among other things) I realized that it wasn't so bad. I don't remember other kid's teasing me (which is what I worry about for her). I only remember the irritation of having to wear a retainer and then braces and then a retainer again. Eventually, I ended up with mostly straight teeth and haven't really had issues for years.
And tonight her front tooth finally came out with a little extra wiggling. It's been loose forever and sitting at a weird angle so it's nice that it's gone too. So we just have to go through this weird phase with her teeth and I need to chill out because I know, in the end, it will be okay.
My boys have had the same issues. MY older has had 4 teeth pulled and space maintainers put in (all are out now as his permanent teeth start to come in. My youngest started out good but took a turn at his last appt having 5 cavities and two the teeth bad enough that they would need caps put on. We did one of them 2 weeks ago and he has another appt next week. Kids are troopers when it comes to this stuff but still not fun to have to deal with. My kids dont drink pop, we dont do a lot of juice and we have eliminated fruit snacks (per dentist demands) but we still have issues. I guess they got their dads soft teeth, not much that can be changed about dna I suppose :)
ReplyDeleteSorry you are going through this too! I have crappy teeth so it doesn't surprise me that she's going through this. My teeth are fine now so I hope her's will be too in the future.
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