He began to panic as we pulled into the parking lot and I had to carry him inside. When the hygienst called his name, I quietly asked her if she'd be okay taking him back by himself and she readily agreed. Christian put up a short protest in going back by himself, but walked back reluctantly.
I stood by the exam area door to see if I'd hear him pitch a fit ... a fit that never came. A very kind staff member would go look in on him periodically and report back each time that he was doing great. He even let them get a full set of xrays - he's not had xrays since he was one. ONE!
I am happy to report Christian has no cavities. He eats A LOT of carbs, which can be the same as sweets when it comes to oral care. Both the hygienist and the dentist commented on how great Christian did and we made to to make a BIG deal about how well he did and how proud we are of him (he LOVES to hear when we're proud of him).
Thanks to the xrays, we learned that there likely aren't two teeth coming in behind Christian's two extra front teeth. That is good and bad: that means there won't be adult teeth to work around, which is good. But that also means that there aren't adult teeth to push against the extra teeth and loosen them up so they fall out on their own. So Christian will definitely need to have oral surgery in the next 6 - 12 months to take out the extra teeth.
An oral surgeon isn't necessary, technically. I hear it is actually a quick procedure to pull out a couple of teeth (and I know from my own tooth extraction experience, it is pulled out in an instant). But we all feel it is better to take Christian to a surgeon where he an be put under anesthesia for the procedure.
Dr. Kelly also noted that Christian will likely start losing his baby teeth in the next six months or so, according to the xrays. So he'll go from having too many teeth to have lots of missing teeth. It'll be interesting to see how his facial structure changes without the two extra teeth.
Frankly, I'm glad we can have this issue with the extra teeth resolved before he starts kindergarten next year. I don't think he gets any comments from kids at his school because they are all used to how Christian's mouth looks. But kids can be cruel and I'm quite certain he'd get a few comments from new kids at a new school (and i base that statement on observing a couple of comments Christian has received in the past. Little kids have no filters and just say whatever comes to mind. Christian didn't mind, as he didn't understand that he was being teased. But the comments broke MY heart on his behalf).
Here's a picture of our little all star with with Doctor Kelly and the hygienist ... a bunch of happy faces, and a couple of THRILLED parents who aren't in the picture. In fact, the dentist said that if we'd send her this picture, she'd run in in our local newspaper in her advertisement! :)
