Dental Appointment

For the past year Hill has been going every 6 months to see Dr. Middleton, our local dentist. Dr. Middleton and his crew are awesome. We are so fortunate to have such a great dental practice that would see him here with his cleft in the little Land of Koz. Sure saves this mama a lot of time and gives also me comfort if I were to need anything or have questions as Adam (Dr. Middleton) and his precious wife, Anna, are our friends.

I don't really know when kids are to start regular check ups but when Hill's teeth started coming in I noticed that he had an extra tooth next to his top right 'front' tooth. This tooth was parallel with his cleft and came in forward to back not side to side. If you'll recall my terror last year I was thinking he was one of the rare cases where the palate is affected but skin covers it up so you never know unless crazy teeth or no teeth start coming in.

Thankfully that was not the case with Hill. He just has a random extra tooth - who knows if it's associated with the cleft or not? We go for check ups every 6 months to check development.

Hill is phenomenal at the dentist. It's so funny how grown-y he acts when there. Mrs. Sharron Davis (who is a long time family friend of Chip's) just eats it up when Hill comes. She is so good with him and makes it so much fun!! We get all kinds of toys and stickers and she talks to him the whole time - she's amazing. She cleans his teeth and he giggles because it tickles. He listens and follows instructions like open wide, bite, you know - all the dental commands. It's seriously funny.

Dr. Middleton looked at the x-rays and you can see such great development between now and 6 months ago. The permanent teeth (that obviously haven't come down) look to be good. It seems as though there may only be one permanent tooth to replace those two teeth which is totally what I wanted to hear. This means a) no pulling of teeth as he will lose his baby teeth on his own, and b) that there is actually a tooth that will replace the baby teeth and c) no reconstructive surgery as far as implants etc. Rejoice!!!

We love ALL the people at the dentist. They all come in and goo and gaah over his cuteness. The receptionists are the same way. Can't beat feeling like a movie star when you're there!

So with that said we go back again in six months just to keep monitoring things. What a fantastic check up!

Here are a few pics of my big man at his appointment.