A Little Blessing: Dental Procedure...

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Dental Procedure...

Well, Brandon has been seeing his Pediatric Dentist since he was a couple weeks old. We typically go every 3 months for fluoride treatments and every 6 months for cleanings. We have to monitor his teeth very closely as they are not all coming in as they should. A couple of his teeth are in between part of his remaining cleft palate...most of his palate was repaired at 13 months, but the rest cannot be corrected until he receives his bone graph later. Kids with clefts need extra dental attention. As this past visit turned out, there was a "defect" noted in one of Brandon's canine teeth which could develop into a cavity if not corrected, so Brandon received his first filling and did FABULOUS!! I'm so proud of him.

3 comments:

AnonymousJuly 12, 2012 at 6:54 AM
Brandon is a really brave kid. I'm pretty sure you’re very proud of him that he didn't have any problems with the treatment. Anyway, it's a good thing that he is visiting his dentist every 3 months. This could really help him to avoid having misaligned teeth. Does he have his permanent teeth already?

Julio Rotter
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LandonJuly 26, 2012 at 6:07 AM
So, how did the procedure go? I bet Brandon has a perfect and alluring smile now. He just has to continue his regular visit to the clinic to have his teeth and palate check by his dentist. Take care!

Landon Heath
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UnknownAugust 2, 2012 at 11:53 AM
Regular trips to the dentist can surely help Brandon avoid oral problems in the future. Another good thing is that he’ll acquire the habit of going to the dentist, and he’ll take this with him until he becomes a grown man. And one day, he’ll pass on this habit to his children, too. It’s all thanks to your dedication, Amy!

Pearl Cook
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Oral-facial clefts are birth defects in which the tissues of the mouth or lip do not form properly during fetal development. In the United States, clefts occur in 1 in 700 to 1,000 births, making it one of the most common major birth defects. Clefts occur more often in kids of Asian, Latino, or Native American descent.
The good news is that both cleft lip and cleft palate are treatable. Most kids born with these can have reconstructive surgery within the first 12-18 months of life to correct the defect and significantly improve facial appearance. http://kidshealth.org/

I remember going in for my 20 week ultrasound. I was so excited to find out if I was having a boy or a girl. My midwives told me that so far all of my labs and vital signs were picture perfect for a pregnancy. Then it happened...I saw the ultrasound tech's face turn serious. She kept taking more and more pictures of my son's face, but wasn't saying anything. With my medical background I knew the possibilities; I finally came out and asked..."What's wrong?","Is there a cleft?". The ultrasound techs aren't allowed to really say anything until it is confirmed by a doctor, but she did say she wasn't sure. Tears began to roll down my face, but I was trying to stay strong. My daughter was with me and I didn't want her to be scared. More and more pictures were taken. I was then asked to wait 4 weeks before I came back to get another ultrasound. This would allow my baby more time to grow and then confirm what they thought...my baby was going to have a cleft lip and palate. I was devastated, but there was nothing I could do. I searched online for any information and pictures I could find to satisfy my desire to learn more. I had no family history of this birth defect. I was referred to a high risk doctor for further evaluation...from there my world began to fall apart. The more and more they checked my baby inside my womb, other concerns began to develop. As it turned out, my little boy was not measuring "normally" and the doctor was worried about a form of skeletal dysplasia, specifically - achondroplasia. For those of you who don't know, this is the most common type of dwarfism. They sent me to a neonatologist to learn more about different types of skeletal dysplasia. Some skelatal dysplasias are lethal, but most have a good prognosis. This was the point when I opted for an amniocentesis to rule out a diagnosis of achondroplasia or chromosomal defect. I felt I needed to do this to prepare myself for what was to come. I had hit my ultimate low...what was wrong with my baby growing inside of me...would I finally have him and lose him all too soon...what did I do wrong...why is this happening to me? Many more weeks of anxiety and anticipation...and then the amnio results came in. Everything was normal!...(Sigh of relief). Still feeling nervous, not sure how my baby will look or what the severity of the cleft will be, but am definitely more hopeful at this point.

A Little Blessing