Orthodontic Update

Shane and I drove into town on Tuesday for an orthodontic checkup. 

We tried to go two weeks ago. However, Shane developed a headache in the car. He started to cry and, while I didn't think it was anything serious, I decided it'd be better to reschedule. I pulled over at Monticello HS to call the office. Shane was fine within a couple hours of being home....go figure.

Today we made it without any drama. Shane's fine with wearing a mask, but he doesn't quite get why he can't touch everything he sees! An assistant took him for x-rays and he came back acting highly goofy.

I'm pretty sure the x-rays didn't affect his brain. Goofy is normal for Shane.

The orthodontist showed up and she was thrilled with what the x-rays showed.

This is the before picture.

It was a little over a year ago the orthodontist recommended for Shane to have a bunch of teeth pulled. She was worried that there was too much crowding, his permanent canines were out of place, and he would have impaction problems.

We decided to follow her recommendations. Shane had four teeth pulled May 2019.

The x-ray today showed there was still some crowding, but the canines re-positioned themselves nicely. "Thank you so much for listening to me," she said (Was she not used to people doing so? Or was that just her way of being polite?)

I didn't realize I caught her finger in the picture or I'd have taken another one. You can see Shane's 10 year molars have progressed.

It was a long drive for a quick visit. We were worried about pulling all the teeth, so it was great to see evidence it worked as we hoped.

Shane's still going to need orthodontic help in the future, but it'd be nice to avoid as much as we can.

To make the drive more worthwhile, I stopped by Lowe's afterward.

That's part of a future story, though.

Dentist Day

Kid dental x-rays look freaky cool.

Early May, the orthodontist thought that it was freaky how Shane's incisors were pointed inwards and positioned to push in under his adult incisors. She recommended we remove some of his baby teeth to fix the problem before there were worse problems in the future.

The dentist happened to walk over from next door to visit and the orthodontist showed her the x-rays. They agreed extractions were the best course of action and the dentist asked me about Shane's fillings. "How did he handle those? Fillings are worse than extractions on kids."

"He did fine thanks to 'tablet hypnosis.'"

I think I coined a new term from their reactions.

I scheduled the first appointment I could to make sure Shane got looked at before I lost my insurance between jobs (Which, by the way, only paid for 2.33 teeth and the rest was out of pocket). 

Today was it.

It certainly looked like Shane was having a good day when I picked him up. He let me know he was the Jackrabbit of the Week!

He seemed happy, hearty, hale, and happy to get out of school early! He was looking forward to playing a MineCraft knock-off.

Shane asked to ride with Mom to the dentist. We had to take two cars, because she had a 3:00 PM appointment with County HR about being a substitute teacher. Carrie let me know something was up when we got to the dentist (more on that tomorrow).

Tablet hypnosis did the trick again. I watched the doctor stick Shane in the mouth with a needle all over while he tried to tell her what he was doing while her hand was still in his mouth. She'd already stuck him multiple times before he even asked, "Is that a shot?"

She answered him, but I think he was more concerned that her hand was obscuring his view of the game.

Proof a tablet can turn my kid into a drooling idiot.

The extractions went without a hitch. Carrie flinched seeing them come out. The roots were still fully formed and the teeth were much larger than we expected.

Shane played on, undisturbed. The only thing that bothered him were the gauze pads they made him bite on after they were done!

Shane and I went buy Tropical Smoothie Cafe afterward. He couldn't use a straw, so I got him a spoon.

It turned out to be a much messier affair driving home than I expected. I was proud of Shane for how well everything went, so I told him not to worry about it!

We showed him the teeth when we got home.

Neat stuff. It looks like it should have been so much more painful than it was.

Shane's going to have a chipmunk smile for a while! The dentist warned us right before they started that Shane's canines were probably a couple of years away from coming in! And that's if they come in at all!

At that point, we were already there and planning on doing it, so we did it. It was still a bit of a, "Huh" moment.

Don't worry about Shane feeling off. He started poking me and I chased him around the kitchen. We got in trouble when he tripped over the stool and banged it into the fridge for a small dent.

"You shouldn't have chased me, Dad!"

"You should've known how to not bump into things!"

Yeah. Shane acted like nothing much had happened. We didn't even give him any pain meds.

Just a day in the life!

Ortho Check-Up

7:30 AM orthodontist checkpoints are the way we roll. Since, they're free consults, we can get in and out early enough I'm not late for work.

Today was a 6 month check. She'd recommended the frenectomy before and was examining to see if Shane needed a retainer.

So far, so good.

The orthodontist did notice Shane had a good sized and unpleasant looking canker sore from where he got his cavity filled last week. I took a look at it later. That led me to cancel our next dentist appointment for Shane on Thursday until his mouth heals a little more.

Summer Checklist

Monday kicked off VBS week and my summer check-list! I hadn't planned any appointments for early summer due to travel. 

Shane protested mightily Sunday night and Monday morning about VBS. "It's summer! I don't want to do anything with school in it!" He pouted up until I dropped him off with his teacher. Then he noticed there were beach balls being hit in the air for "Don't touch the ground."

The kid played his heart out. 

I recognized a lot of the adults from helping out last year. It's a great program. I figure Shane will attend as long as we're in the area.

After VBS though, it was time to visit the dentist. The orthodontist had recommended a frenectomy back in the school year. We got a quote ahead of time from insurance to see what it would cost, did our research and talked it out. We decided to go ahead. Carrie's mom had needed a frenectomy when she was younger. 

If you're not sure what a frenectomy is, neither is spellcheck. It's easy to look up online. Basically, the tissue that holds Shane upper lip down in the front of his mouth was too large/strong and helping his teeth buck out. They use a laser to cut it down to size and hopefully prevent/mitigate future orthodontist work.

But first, a nap. It's been a long time since Shane conked out midday in the car. The weekend trip and VBS must have drained him!

He only got a 10 minute or so power nap, but he woke up in a good mood. I told him what was up about what we were doing and why, but was as nonchalant as possible. My internal worry was much higher than I let on ("Am I making the right choice for my kid? There's no going back!"). Not that I was going to let it stop me from doing what we thought was best for our kid.

Survey says, I hide my worries well. That and Shane has the attention span of a squirrel coupled with the curiosity of a cat. He stayed low stress and entertained.

He stayed low stress and entertained.

The only thing I had to help with was to hold him down for the anesthesia shot. Shane got panicky when the needle finally came out. He went back to normal almost instantaneously after. Kids are resilient.

The doctor came in to check things out before go time. She showed Shane the laser and told him what she was going to do. I'd told him that frenectomies, "used to hurt a lot more, but now they can use a laser. Makes it hurt a lot less and heal faster."

Clearly he believed it.

They kicked me out of the room for 9 minutes. Yes, I kept a loose count.

Shane hardly seemed worse for wear! He was back and playing in no time. He found it really difficult to follow the, "don't touch" advice, but was otherwise back to himself. The doctor said that kids bounce back incredibly fast and really how he felt was the main limitation. It would be wise to avoid acidic or spicy food, but as long as he brushed and felt fine we were not to worry.

Shane's anxiety started to pick up a little on the way home. I'm sure the pain meds were slipping, too, but I bet a conversation between Carrie and I didn't help.

The dentist had said to use some neosporin on the wound to help prevent infection. I thought that was weird, so I asked for confirmation. The dentist confirmed it and I went on my way.

Carrie called on the way home. She really thought it was weird and didn't like it. She called the doctor for a second opinion and the doctor sided with her over the dentist.

This caused a small debate on the phone. I wanted to listen to the dentist, because they specialized in the procedure and it's recovery. Carrie wanted to side with the doctor, because they specialize in total health and neosporin is not meant for consumption.

Shane got weepy as he and I were in Wegmans picking up a few supplies. Then when we got home the first thing he did was do the opposite of what the dentist said to do: He lifted up his whole upper lip to show Mommy. That caused a momentary stir.

We gave Shane some ibuprofen and switched to electronic mode. There were no other fusses. It was quiet and restful. Shane went to bed so early I never had time to administer neosporin or not. He slept through the night and it was like nothing had happened the next day (save a little curiosity). Kids are pretty amazing.

Quick Ortho Check-up

7:30 AM - Shane and I showed up for a quick ortho check-up.

We were out in under twenty minutes. His teeth are coming in mostly well.

The orthodontist noted Shane's maximal frenulum (piece of skin that attaches the upper lip to the gums) may be a little large and need to get looked at later if it causes trouble.

Whoa Busy

School started again Monday. It hit home for me yesterday after church. I thought there was going to be a teacher workday for some reason, but I was wrong. Dead wrong.

Unfortunately, I scheduled Shane's orthodontic consult for 8:30 AM weeks ago when I thought there was no school.

Carrie was going to help, but then she woke me up at 2 AM to tell me she was sick (it's a good thing she didn't drive down to visit Mira!).

I didn't want to reschedule, so I texted my boss. She let me skip the morning planning, so I could take Shane to the appointment.

It was a nice place.

They even had some game consoles. Shane played Streets of Rage.

He had a blast while I tried not to sweat out "How long's this going to take?"

Random: There was a toy called the Perplexus. I want one now. Coolest handheld maze ever.

We arrived early at 8:15 AM to fill out forms. They took us to the back around 8:40ish. Shane was asked to smile for some photographs.

Then he laid down and got to hold mouth guards for some up close and personal teeth pictures.

He did great.

He likes having his picture taken.

The orthodontist had all of the pictures up on a screen when we went back to talk to her.

And she could doodle on the screen with her tablet. Shane and I were both into it!

Bottom line: Shane may have some crowding later. Come back in six months or if there are any shark teeth on the top. The tongue tends to push teeth into position on the bottom if there's a gap, so she wasn't worried about the two extractions we had.

We left a little after 9:00 AM. Shane made it to his school, and I made it to mine. I don't know if the kids even noticed I missed a part of breakfast.

It was a long day. Every teacher, student, and parent in the city probably felt the same way. The break was over and it was time to settle back in.

After work, I ended up here.

The elementary school blew me off, so I've been focused on the high school off season. I love the sport and love the kids. It keeps me busy.

Shane was outside when I picked him up from school at 5:25 PM. He looked like he had fun. I think it hit 80 F today.

6:30 PM it was tee-ball practice again. There were a lot more kids. I don't mean to keep ending up coaching, but it keeps happening. I guess I should get used to it. God wired me the way He wanted to.

I wore shorts. Coach Josh made a crack about it would have been an expensive season for me if I went through a pair of pants each practice. I replied, "So what you're telling me is: No pants."

If I hadn't been surrounded by 4-6 year olds the conservation could have degenerated quickly (I like these guys). Our team name is the Dick's Sporting Goods Team. How's that for a mascot?

Shane had another drama moment when a little girl half his size bumped him and he laid in the grass for five minutes distraught. It was probably a long day for him. He got hit by a ball that bounced out of his glove later and bawled hysterically. I took his glove for him to rest and gave it to a kid who didn't have one and that calmed him down (Go figure).

Overall, he did well. It was a long day for everyone.

We tried to simulate a tee-ball game with kids hitting and then running the bases. We have one more practice Thursday before our first game on Saturday. It's going to be pandemonium.

Hopefully in a fun way! Shane played some video games when we got home before bed. Carrie slept most of the day, but she had to drive down to Mira after all. The vet recommended some medicine she had to buy. That will be a post for when the foal arrives.

Tuesday should slow down some. It'll pick back up again Wednesday and Thursday, but I like to be somewhat busy. I'm glad they won't all be packed like this Monday was.