Sunday, December 12, 2010

Extra tooth

John had an extra baby tooth right in the front his mouth. We have known about it for a long time, and desperately tried to get someone to pull it out. We went to 2 dentists and even got an urgent appt. when the permanent teeth started coming in around the baby tooth. Despite all of this, we couldn't get an appointment to get it pulled out until recently. Everyone kept reassuring us that there was no harm in waiting. After waiting for months for our appointment to get it pulled under IV sedation, we got a phone call telling us that the dentist messed up their scheduling and had to cancel our appointment. They couldn't reschedule until March! There is no way we were waiting that long so we were able to schedule an appointment to get it done under general anesthesia in the operating room. We really hated to put John through that just to get a tooth pulled, but didn't see any other alternatives.
So, here is John just before going in for his surgery. Notice the extra little tooth behind the two permanent teeth on the top. Also notice how the 2 front teeth are way out of alignment because of this.



The operation itself went great. John actually took his meds to make him drowsy without any fuss this time. All of the nurses, doctors, and dentists were great. They pulled the tooth out and cleaned and sealed all of his other teeth. No cavities! They said his teeth looked great. The dentist came in and basically said that we waited too long to get it pulled and that John will almost certainly need braces in a couple of years. Arrgh. There is simply no way John will tolerate braces so we're hoping the teeth improve enough that we won't have to do that.
We also had John's bloodwork down while he was under anesthesia, including a genetic test.
Here he is after the surgery:



Still looking a little groggy:



John threw up several times in the hospital and after returning home. He also threw up the next day at school. That anesthesia is hard on his stomach.

And, the aftermath:



Other than that adventure, things have been going well. John has had a couple of larger seizures lately that have caused him to vomit, but otherwise he's been doing well.

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