Well, J. had her dentist appointment this a.m. My fears were unfounded - the dentist in the middle of the country did NOT pull a good tooth. It's in there. Way up there.

The dentist today said since it seems like it's been up there for a long time (her other front tooth has been in for 1.5 yeras, at least), it will likely NOT come down on its own - even if we do move the tooth below it out of the way.

He explained adult teeth coming in like a rocket taking off -- when it's ready, it has the energy to come down - but if something's blocking it, the energy is just wasted, and there is no re-fueling.

So it will need to be pulled down.

How? You may ask?

Well, my poor, sweet little girl will need her gum sliced open, and will need to have a braces bracket put on her tooth that is currently way up high in the gum, and it will need to be pulled down that way.

I don't understand.

Will her gum STAY sliced open? Will they close it again? With the braces on it?

Tomorrow is the orthodontic consultation - many strings were pulled to get it for tomorrow instead of June 6. I made the appointment for 1 p.m., so J. and I could get back to school in time for the play practice that she has and that I'm volunteering at.

Then I got home, and Beloved reminded me that she has a field trip tomorrow. That she's been looking forward to for a long time. If I pick her up at noon to get to a 1 p.m. appointment - well, she'd have to miss the field trip.

The child is going through too much right now to miss her a field trip on top of it.

So I called and changed the appointment to 3 p.m., and we're both missing play practice.

So now the play people can hate me.

Better than my daughter having more crap placed on top of her current crap-pile.

I mean, seriously - they're slicing open her gums!!!! The least she can do is go see a play first.

We will also decide (with the orthodontist and the dentist) whether these braces will also take care of her incredible overbite, or if we'll put that off until later.

Labels: health, kids

posted by Zuska @ 11:30 AM

5 Comments:

At Wednesday, February 28, 2007 1:06:00 PM, Mel Woods said…

I had that exact same procedure done when I was 14 and it is really not that bad. I already had braces at the time so they just hooked it up to them. I don't remember any slicing, it is just a small incision. I recently had my wisdom teeth out and in terms of pain and recovery time the wisdom teeth were 10 times worse.

I'm sure it sounds scary, as any surgery is, but it is really nothing to worry about. Best of luck.
At Wednesday, February 28, 2007 1:43:00 PM, divine angst said…

Yep, again, this is EXACTLY what my sister went through. It's not nearly as bad as some forms of oral surgery, and the gum will eventually heal around the tooth nicely. It seems pretty frightening, but it's pretty common. She'll be fine!
At Wednesday, February 28, 2007 1:46:00 PM, Zuska said…

Do either of you remember - did they cut the gum, and leave it cut until the tooth descended? This is where my confusion lies (although only until tomorrow, when we meet with the orthodontist). I can't imagine that she'll feel too good about the way that looks while it's happening :(
At Wednesday, February 28, 2007 2:21:00 PM, Mel Woods said…

It's not really a cut. There was just an opening similar to when any other tooth is coming in. It looks perfectly normal. It was one of my 4 front teeth as well and I don't even remember which one it is now.
At Wednesday, February 28, 2007 4:42:00 PM, Butterflyfish said…

I had something similar done -- my left canine was coming down, in the middle of the roof of my mouth. I had braces at the time. They told me the "scary" words "We'll just drill a little tunnel through your gums, put on a bracket, and pull it down and forward." A TUNNEL???

Yeah, like Mel said, it doesn't stay open and gaping... looks perfectly normal right after the procedure. The "pulling it down and forward" took a little linger than anyone expected though. Stubborn tooth!

:-)