Ortho Update

Cody and I ventured to Syracuse for another ortho check-up. Dr. Scott was very proud of his clean teeth and the fact that he worse his special t-shirt so he got 2 more raffle tickets and got to pick a prize from the "big" prize table. So that was a big deal!!!!

The appliance is doing it's job. He said he can almost clench down and hit teeth to teeth. Yeah. But...with good there is bad and we have a few issues to watch. His top right tooth has been worn down so much from the cross bite that he is now exposing nerve. I don't think a lot of nerve as Cody has not complained and I imagine he would. However, we had our last visit 4 weeks ago so all of this stuff has happened in that amount of time. So we need to watch it unless I call and say we have an issue. If the nerve becomes more exposed then they will need to pull it. He took a few new x-rays to send to Dr. Tatum. It appears that he is missing 2 top adult teeth. I was hoping for only one - at the site of the cleft where his gum was split as a baby. But both adult teeth - one on either side of his front teeth is missing. So down the road we will be talking options for adult teeth. Implants, teeth on a retainer, moving back teeth forward and re-shaping......

Then the most hard to swallow news was that he has a fistula. For those outside the craniofacial world - that is an opening in the palate. Right now his is like a pin-hole size. It's not huge as I could only see it as his head was tilted back with a bright light shining on it. Dr. Scott sprayed some air up there and it really bothered Cody as it was going right into his nasal cavity and tickled horribly. I was extremely sad to hear that news. We need to watch it to see if it gets bigger. Of course with the hole comes the possibility of speech issues and food/drink coming out of his nose. So we wait and see what we are up for.

I hate to admit it but I did have my little pity party in the car for like 5 minutes. I'm entitled right? I think so. I hate that at the age of 5 we have to think about "adult" teeth and the lack of them. I hate that his palate is opening back up. We've been so lucky that ours hasn't. I know that there are many kids that do and are much bigger - but this is my child, our situation and I only know that. Not to mention I am taking Tyler to the hospital tomorrow for another surgery and it just plain ole sucks! We see Dr. Scott back in 6 weeks.

A very funny story though.............as Dr. Scott had Cody in his chair he asked Cody how old he was? Cody said 5. Dr. Scott said "when will you turn 6"? Cody replied "on my next birthday"!!! We all laughed. Dr. Scott realized he walked into that.