How WE Celebrate President's Day...

All of the boys go to visit the dentist!!!

The boys all went to the dentist today. They have not been in a while because I did not like the dentist they were seeing. We recently had a Pediatric dentist move into the same area as our pediatrician, and I heard he was a great dentist, so I called and scheduled appointment for them all!

We will start with the best news....or maybe we should save the best news for last. Lets do that.

So....we will start with Isaac. POOR ISAAC! He cannot catch a break! Isaac was seen second. I told them before he went back about the damage he had done when he fell and knocked one tooth out and loosed four or five. The two top front permanents have come in, and don't look too great, so I have been concerned about them. Little did I know - that would be the LEAST of my concerns!

They decided to do a full xray on him. The dr looks at the xray - and I COULD TELL!!! He called me over and started pointing the "shadows" out on the xray. This xray does not typically show cavities and decay - it is mainly used to see where his permanent teeth are and how they are coming in. His teeth are so bad that this xray showed decay - even in teeth that have not come in yet.

The dentist asked if he had ever had a high fever or taken a lot of medicine. Well, if you know Isaac, you know he has been to the ER several times for spiked fevers and has had too many ear infections to count (which he has to be put on antibiotics for). The dentist said he had severe enviromental damage to his teeth. He said most likely the fevers and/or medicine are to blame. There was nothing we could have done to prevent it from happening. His back/side teeth are so bad that if you were to poke his teeth with something sharp - it would most likely go THROUGH his tooth.

So, plan of action at this point. He will basically have to have most of his side/back teeth capped and some pulled. Several of the teeth, the decay has almost reached the nerves. When his six year molars finish coming in, they will be removed. The hope is that by removing his six year molars as soon as they come in, his twelve year molars will move into the spot of the six year and his wisdom teeth will take the place of his twelve year molars. Then he will not have to have wisdom teeth removed.

Worst case scenario, Isaac may have MANY years of lots of dental procedures to save what we can and get them in decent condition. He is being put on flouride toothpaste to try and strenthen the teeth.

Caleb - next to worst - first to be seen. He did great. He has a few cavitites that need to be addressed with a light filling. They are in baby teeth and his xray showed he would probably be losing all of the remaining baby teeth in the next year. They are going to have to pull at least two - maybe four - of his teeth (two on top two on bottom) due to overcrowding. His teeth are not coming in straight right now. Hopefully doing this will cause the ones that are coming in wrong to correct themselves and the ones that will be coming in to come in straight. If this doesn't work, he will be getting braces probably next year.

Bryce - PERFECTION!!! Not even the beginning of a cavity! He still has straight, beautiful teeth! Let's hope he is lucky enough to keep them.

Oh yeah, Caleb is very proud - he is now using a "BIG PERSON" tooth brush! No more cutsy tooth brushes for him!!