Ortho Visit #2

We met Dr. Scott today. 2 words - LOVE HIM! Now onto the details.......

As we were waiting in the lobby, Cody played in the real boat that's in the office. Once inside the doors we were given a great tour of the entire place. The inside of this office looks like the inside of a ship. Awesome. Dr. Scott came right in and one of his first words to Cody was "I can't wait to be your friend". After some looking, poking, prodding, talking, questions, you name it - this is what we got.

On the questionnaire was a question on thyroid. I marked it as "testing" so we first talked about that. What were the signs - Cody always being tired - so then he looked at his profile xray and said "those adenoids are huge". (Not the first time we have heard that). He asked if Cody was a mouth breather - "yes". Basically being a mouth breather, you don't release the carbon monoxide out of your lungs. So your heart has to work harder to pump blood to your body. Hence could be why Cody is so tired. He said though to continue testing the thyroid because of his TSH level being high like it was. So we really don't have an answer about that. He also said that being a mouth breather - your tongue sits behind the bottom teeth. When you breath out of your nose - your tongue rest behind the upper teeth and snug up against the palate. In children and during their development, their tongue can help guide their upper jaw forward as they grow. But if you can't breath out of your nose then that won't work. Well because of Cody having his palate repaired and any scar tends to tighten up - that scar brought his palate in. So the thought is - we should look to clear his airway and get him breathing out of his nose and then with the help of an appliance and Cody's tongue and growth his palate will move out to make a better U shaped arch and his tongue will help guide his jaw forward. Hopefully preventing a jaw distraction later.

What does this mean.....well not a 100% sure yet. Dr. Scott will discuss with Dr. Tatum. Dr. Scott would like the adenoids to come out. I am hesitant to remove them completely as that tissue helps Cody's soft palate close off therefore when Cody talks he does not sound hypernasal. Back 2 years ago when Cody had his tonsils removed, Dr. Tatum said the adenoids were large but instead we tried to shrink them with nasal spray. We saw the xrays today and could see Cody's airway. It's not completely closed off but it's not as open as at the other end. (picture a garden hose) I will follow up next week with Dr. Tatum and see about a consult with him. We would normally see him in Dec. anyway. My heart is telling me surgery down the road. Dr. Scott would like to start the expander in the spring. He would do it sooner but because of the drive and our lovely northern winters - we are waiting till spring. It should be a 6 month treatment (hopefully) and it would be out before he started Kindergarten.

Things we have to do.......Dr. Scott gave us tongue depressors and would like us to place them behind Cody's upper teeth and have him bite down and try to move those front teeth forward. Right now they are at an angle. Keep brushing!!!! Talk with Insurance and see who is going to pay for what and how much out of pocket we need to come up with. Today was a shocker of $93. Hopefully insurance pays some of that back. Treatment plan is $850. Let the insurance battle begin.

Dr. Scott handed out many compliments. He asked me at one point if I was a nurse. No, but I sure do feel that way most days. I just choose to be a very involved parent. He said Cody's dental hygiene is awesome. He couldn't get over Cody's repair. He said it is fantastic and the lines are so symmetrical.

Other teeth things - Cody's palate tooth is a "hybrid". Meaning 90% baby tooth, 10% adult. He said if it falls out there doesn't appear to have an adult tooth behind it. If it stays, then we can pull it into place and reshape it and whala - a tooth! He also commented on the amount of bone in his gum. He really feels that if we can get the palate widened out - that growth will help to push that gum line together even more and maybe bone will grow on it's own. Otherwise, a very little bone graft. (which Dr. tatum has told us before).

That's for staying with me........What we decided so far. While we loved Dr. Mark, we believe the place for us is with Dr. Scott. The two teams really do do things differently and Dr. Scott is very in tune with what Dr. Tatum wants. Brett and I both left feeling extremely happy and it was Brett that made the comment first that that was "home".

After all of this - Cody being a huge trooper the entire day. Really charming the entire staff. We headed to the hospital for our photo shoot. Can I just say he has "Flower" in him and was very photogenic. They got several shots and I really hope what they were looking for.

Any questions - fire away!!!!