Day at the Dentist

All four kids had their 6 month check ups today (except for Trent... he has 3 month check ups). No cavities! Yay! Annie and Grey were good to go. Carly and Trent have little issues. Well, Trent's is a big issue. For Carly, it's not such a big issue. She's going to need braces. It's been pretty apparent and I've given her fair warning so she was expecting to hear that from the dentist. He said that in about a year, we'll probably be discussing getting them on her because her adult teeth have nowhere to go. Her mouth is very crowded and her adult teeth are coming in crooked. She seems ok with it and I'm thinking there have probably been improvements in orthodontics since I had them 20ish year ago so hopefully they won't be as painful.

Now my poor Trent. Some of his teeth have come in missing their enamel. They look rotten but they aren't really. Not yet, anyway. To help them stay strong, we have been painting fluoride on them every other day for the last 3 months. Maybe it has helped a little and maybe it hasn't. In any case, though, the surface of his teeth is not as strong as it was 3 months ago. And more teeth have come in missing enamel. (The dentists he's seen suspect that I had an infection while Trent's teeth were developing in utero and it caused a malformation with his enamel.) The dentist said we're between a rock and a hard place right now because the longer we wait to fix them, the more deteriorated the teeth will become and the more difficult restoration will be... even so much that he might need crowns. Ooooh, I don't want that for him! I have one and I clearly remember how much it hurt. I can't imagine that for him, times 6 or 8. :( But the benefit to waiting is that more of his baby teeth will have come in and if any of those need to be fixed as well, they can all be done at once. Plus, when dealing with general anesthesia, the older he is, the better. So the plan is that at his next appointment in 3 months, he will (likely) have more of his baby teeth in and the dentist will then talk with me more about "reconstructive surgery." That makes it sound so awful. But he explained that he will use a tooth-colored material to restore the surface and prevent any more deterioration. Not the news I wanted to hear but I'm thankful that there are options to help him. My Mommy-heart is unsettled about the anesthesia, though. Please be praying about that!