Project 52 - Dentist - Week 37

37/52

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.

Project 52 - Lost Tooth - Week 38

38/52

A few days ago Riley's second tooth came out and as you can see in the picture below she has two adult teeth on their way in. Not sure where they will fit. To be honest I'm afraid she will have my teeth. I know I've said it before, but she was just born into a line of crappy teeth.

I'm envisioning braces in the future and just hope that her teeth aren't too wonky until we get to that spot which I imagine is years away. When I was a kid, I had a retainer for a couple years, braces for a couple years, and another retainer for a couple years after that. Hopefully, she doesn't have to go through that. I mean, she's already dealing with her capped 'jaws' teeth. We better start a 'dental' fund just in case.

Anyhoo, I have hope because with all the work I've had completed on my teeth they are now fine. The bottom are a little crooked (because apparently those extra 2 years of a retainer where not enough), but otherwise healthy. I haven't had a cavity in forever and can't tell you the last time I had to have my teeth pulled. Oh yeah, my wisdom teeth, but that was almost 20 years ago.

The Tooth Fairy came again. She brought a letter and a dollar for the first tooth and I tried to prepare Riley that she didn't bring a letter every time. Instead, she brought a dollar with a painted glittery heart on it. Hasn't anyone told her that I think it's illegal to deface a dollar bill? Riley was a little stunned in the morning, perhaps wondering where the letter was, but still pleased with the fancy money she received.

I guess I will have to wait a few more years to see how this whole adult teeth thing plays out. It sucks that she's already had issues, but I will take this over other major health issues. At least my kid is healthy and happy. That I am grateful for.

Lately...

Summer has been moving along just like any other time, I suppose. We are trying to get out and enjoy the weather as much as possible since it seems fall and then winter are right around the corner. I know it's awhile before we receive the first snow, but once the State Fair starts and we get any dip in the weather I start to mourn the end of summer. Here's a little taste of what we've been doing so far.

We've been trying to get Riley's cavities filled. This could probably be a post of it's own, but it's so depressing to me I am going to slip it in with more positive stuff in this post. For a review, Riley went in for her first dental appointment and came out with the knowledge that she has a whole lotta cavities. I shouldn't be too surprised since my side of the family has bad teeth (including me), but as a parent I was hoping my kid wasn't going to be that kid.

My mother in law is a dental hygienist so we took Riley there, but the fillings appointment didn't go well so we went to a dentist that works specifically with kids. They suggested we do x-rays to make sure we were on the right track. Based on the x-rays, those 5 fillings turned into 3 crowns and 2 fillings.

 

Riley did great during the x-ray, but I had to pin her down during the insertion of the crown as she was crying super hard. It didn't help that I didn't care for this dentist - for a dentist that works with kids I expected a little more warm and fuzzy (the hygienist was great). At any rate, we were told that we would have to take Riley to a hospital and put her under anesthesia to do the rest of the dental work. 

*sigh* 

So we are waiting to do that. Jesse wants a second opinion since he didn't really like this dentist. By the way... the crown she has is metal - not white. They will fall out when her big teeth come in, but until then she's going to look like Jaws. Luckily they are in the back, but still. I hope she doesn't face any teasing in the future on this. Ugh.

Ok, on to more fun activities. We've been hitting up a smaller farmer's market near our house which has provided some free face painting. The 'artist's' have obviously been different as you can maybe see in the quality of work below, but Riley hasn't really cared.

Ok, so you can't see it that well here, but the ice cream cone is way better looking than the rainbow which also started to smear onto other things. Luckily, she was ok with us washing it off an hour after we got home. The farmer's market is such a quick and simple trip for us. They have music and it's not overly crowded at this one so it's a nice, inexpensive activity for us to do. And Riley really enjoys it too.

Something that we haven't really taken advantage of this year is Music in the Park at Wolfe Park. These concerts tend to start about the time we are winding Riley down for bed, but we were able to catch one band as they set up. Riley loves music so we will have to make sure we catch some of these shows next year. I guess there were even a few that were focused on kids music too.

Just wanted to include the following picture of Riley in her Grand Marais t-shirt and her new jean jacket.

OK, moving on... Jesse went on a boy's cabin last weekend so I took last Friday off and had a mom and daughter day with Riley. Our day started out great until I told her we were going to the Como Zoo and she said she didn't want to go.

What?

The car was packed so we were going no matter what. We had fun, but Riley might have had the right idea when she said she didn't want to go. Apparently, everyone took that Friday off and went to zoo so parking was a little ridiculous. Then, there was some sort of alarm that kept going off (with very short reprieves) the entire time we were there. On top of that, Riley whined that she didn't want to see the animals and then whined that she didn't want to leave cause she wanted to stay with the animals. And finally, we witnessed some borderline parenting decisions that made me a little sad. Riley witnessed a kid totally freak out and I was grateful my kid didn't behave like that (and then I was put in my place when she pulled an epic meltdown the next day - more to come on that).

On the upside, Riley did not freak out over the annoying alarm noise and we got to have this moment together. It's not too often that she and I get to do stuff like this alone. Oh, and she loved seeing the monkeys - something did make her happy.

The following day we were still on our own. After a morning trip to the gym we headed over to Jesse's moms' house. Her side of the family was having their annual picnic in Jordan and we decided to check it out even if Jesse wasn't going to be there. Unfortunately, they are still doing major road construction on 169. I thought for a second that I would take a different route, but it's so out of the way. I mean, how bad could 169 be? Turns out there was a fender bender right where the two lanes had to merge into one so I got to Suzie's house way later than anticipated. But from there it was a quick trip (or so it seemed) to the park where we all met.

Riley has a cousin (Jackson) that is just slightly older than her that she loves to play with. And, what seems to be a running theme, he is a boy. Don't get me wrong, she likes to play with girls, but she loves to play with the boys. Not sure what this is about.

Maybe she just chases him because of his cool wheels.

There were other kids there, I swear.

We were warned that these rice krispie bars turn everything blue. Everything.

Photo credit Ryan Doheny

Mostly siblings, but a few cousins too.

We stayed at the picnic for several hours (over Riley's typical nap time). I prepared Riley many times that we would be leaving soon, but apparently the thought of leaving her friend, Jackson, was just too much to handle. She threw the biggest fit I've ever seen her have in public. No amount of reasoning was going to help so I just picked her up as she thrashed in my arms and carried her past our family and all sorts of strangers. So the day before I was totally questioning the parenting techniques of the kid that lost it at the zoo, and here I was with that kid (although I didn't smack my kid like that lady did).

Once in the car, Riley calmed down. For the first few minutes of our ride home we talked about our feelings. She told me she was sad, but was adamant that she was not tired. A few minutes later she was asleep. No surprise there.

Jesse returned home later that day - a full day earlier than planned. Turns out many of the 'boys' that go on this trip are now dads and didn't want to be away from their families for too long. I was glad to have Jesse home, but I enjoyed having time that was just for us girls... even if it wasn't all rainbows and fairies.

Stories from the dentist's chair

We waited until Riley turned three to take her to the dentist. It was the advice we received from dentists and other parents even though all those books suggested taking her in when she was one. I sort of regret the decision to wait although I don't know that it would have made a difference. Point being... kid has bad teeth. As in lots of cavities and issues with her enamel... or lack of it. She's three! How the heck did this happen?

Superstar patient

I have bad teeth and am not the first in my family to have issues with teeth (and I'm not the one with the worst issues, either). When I was young I remember my dad exclaiming to the dentist "I don't understand, she brushes her teeth regularly" when he discovered my mouth was full of cavities. I went on to have a retainer, then braces, and a retainer again. I've had 13 teeth pulled and the teeth that sit on each side of my upper front teeth used to sit behind them.

I'll let you think about that one for a moment.

When I was younger I didn't have any context as to why my teeth might be so bad since, as an adopted person, I didn't have any history on my biological family. But when I was 20 something I sent away for non-identifying information from my adoption agency. The one and only health type issue listed on there? My birth mother had bad teeth.

It all made sense.

Not even willing to show my teeth.
Yikes! The horror! I don't even remember them being that bad. PS. closest I ever got to Farrah Fawcet hair.
Braces and '80's style at it's finest.
The finished product!

I've always been pretty diligent about taking care of my teeth, but even more so as an adult. I brush three times a day and floss several times a week (ok, I could be better on that front). I haven't had a cavity since I was a child, my teeth are fairly straight, and I receive good reports from the dentist when I go.

Hearing that my daughter had such awful teeth shouldn't have been totally surprising to me, but I was crushed. I felt like it was a reflection on my parenting. Should I have worked harder to clean her teeth? What about those times I put her to bed as an infant after nursing and didn't clean her teeth again? What could I have done better knowing what I know about my teeth?

But it turns out that while genetics could have something to do with it (and perhaps the way we clean her teeth) the culprit might be something else. Some kid's teeth development are impacted by being sick and taking medication. The dentist suggested that it was likely the cause of the issues, but we can't be for sure. I tried to find some information about this on the web, but really didn't find anything. All the articles talked about the regular culprits of tooth decay and we fell guilty to some (often giving filtered water to her instead of tap water), but not others (she rarely has had juice and never pop). But when I talked to another mom about this she confirmed that her son lacked enamel when he was Riley's age and was told it was because of antibiotics. Huh.

Did I miss this information somewhere?

I'm not sure it would have changed my decision to give my child medication had I known, but I feel like I totally missed something along the way. Regardless, it makes me sad that we got this kind of report on Riley's teeth and that she might be in pain (although she never indicates it). And it makes me sad that I couldn't be at the appointment with her (thanks to her daddy who took her).

The upside was that grandma is a dental hygienist so going to the dentist wasn't as scary as it might have been. I heard Riley was a cooperative patient and she was quite excited about the special gifts she was able to bring home. Who knew that a new tooth brush and floss could be so exciting to a kid.

Next up is the follow up appointment. They are going to try and fill all cavities on one visit and will likely need to give her gas (something I absolutely hate). This time I will try my darndest to get out of work to be there. I may not be able to make her teeth all better, but I can at least support her while she gets them fixed.