Although I have seen several dentists in conjunction with the craniofacial panels at UC Davis and Stanford, I have never officially been to the dentist. About a year ago, one of the dentists on a panel told my parents that the discoloration they were seeing in my front teeth were probably due to my Mommy getting sick during pregnancy and the teeth had been effected in utero. As the last year has passed, though, the teeth have are getting more yellow and my Daddy was convinced it was something more. When my feeding therapist noticed that I acted like it was painful to eat at times, she suggested going to a pediatric dentist in the area to get it checked out. So today was that appointment. Now, Mommy already figured it would be a little stressful since I don't like people in my mouth and don't really like the toothbrush either.
When Dr. Jan came in and looked at my mouth Mommy explained what she had been told. Dr. Jan looked at Mommy like she was crazy and said, "Those are cavities. Really big cavities!" So apparently that discoloration thing wasn't what was going on - at least not in my mouth. Over the next hour it was a lot of me being held down - to get xrays, to get photos and to get an exam. I'd like to say I took it like a "man" but I cried and fought the whole time. But after all the tears they let me have as many toys as I wanted from the toy bin and sent me home with lots of new toothbrushes to try.
Had my parents come in a year ago when they first noticed the cavities it would not have been to big a deal to get them taken care of. At this point, it's going to be a little more involved to get me all fixed up. My top three teeth in the front all have very big cavities and Dr. Jan says I need root canals and crowns. I also have a smaller cavity on a tooth on the bottom that will need a filling. Since I am so little and have a heart condition, Dr. Jan doesn't want to risk sedating me so for the hour it will take to get all of that done, they are going to wrap me up really tight in a blanket and get er done! Now they did tell Mommy they might have some sedatives to offer her when she is holding me through the procedure and she might take them up on it ; )
Tonight when it came time to brush my teeth, my parents tried using a new brush that we got today from Dr. Jan. I was willing to brush my own teeth much more tonight than usual and then my Daddy had to get in there and get the rest really good. I wasn't too happy about it but within moments of finishing I took the toothbrush back from Daddy and took it to bed with me. There I spent some more time brushing my own teeth and brushed my baby's teeth for good measure.
Peyton Nicole Smith
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