Teeth, the Saga Continues: Pirates and Unicorns

I've decided it's time to get all the teeth to the dentist. I started with myself. Self-care

I need a crown. I've known this for years. YEARS and years. Once, when I was in high school, I bit into an oreo, and half my tooth broke off. I do not blame the Oreo. I never blamed the Oreo. I blame something that I weakened it on before the Oreo. Most of the time I blame basketball because there was some impact there. I remember tasting my front teeth on occasion. They taste bad. Unlike Oreos, which taste very good.

After the Oreo incident, I got a filling to temporarily fix the molar. It's probably because I was still growing and that was the recommendation.

So, did you know that dentistry has come to a really long way in a relatively short period of time? Dentists a long time ago pulled teeth, cut hair, and amputate legs. Gross and ouch.

Despite the reach of technology, turns out I have anxiety when my teeth are getting drilled on. I had a really great dentist growing up who I loved, Dr. Matilla. I told him all my hopes and dreams while getting my cute little teeth worked on.  I have sort of avoided any other dentist. Well, I recently opened my heart and mouth to trust again. It was time.

I need a crown. Because I'm a princess. However, the crown had nowhere to sit because my tooth was all funky broken. First I needed to get the tooth fixed up. This was to be done with the stuff that is used to fill cavities. The decay was drilled out, the old filling was drilled out, and a new foundation for the future crown was laid. While the drilling was happening, and the water was spiking in my mouth, the spit and stuff was falling back into my throat where I would swallow it sometimes, and my eyes were slightly blinded even though I had little sunglasses on them, I thought, " I would rather have a pap smear" (or schmear if one mispronounces that word in a hilarious way). I was unable to tell this joke to my new dentist because of the hands in my mouth thing.

My new dentist recommended nitrous oxide for the next treatment. I concur.

Twelve-year-old daughter got braces last week. Her little mouth hurt for a few days and she ate a lot of pudding. I felt for her.

While my mind was on the dentist train, my kids also needed appointments for cleanings. We switched to a new pediatric dentist, and I love it! Alamo Kids Dental. It's super close to my house and the staff was amazing.

I took my two little ones a couple of days ago. We had a lovely lady dentist who was so good with my young ones. One girl has crowded teeth, and no cavities, and needs sealants. The little boy has cavities. Normal teeth stuff. Follow-up appointments needed to fix the probs. Brush and floss. Now, this is where it gets exciting.

Dr. Gurr taught me new things about my children's teeth. Neither one had cavities. It is OTHER things. Did you even know teeth had other tricks up their sleeves? I didn't.

The eleven-year-old girl has already had brackets on her front teeth because her baby tooth were funky little monkies and they needed help. I know that braces lie in her near future. We had a preliminary ortho appointment a few months ago. They said she needs a little more time getting some teeth in, namely, lose some more molars. Before she can get braces she needs to lose her sunken molars.

SUNKEN MOLARS!? What are those? Did pirates have anything to do with it? (I suspect they did, matey). Well, sunken teeth are when the baby molars are fused to the jaw bones. The mouth gums and tissue and stuff grows, but these little babies can't float above the bones, so they look sunken, just like a ship. We have a mouth full of sunken pirate teeth. She's going to need those removed. Six of them.

Also, eleven-year-old has a crater tooth. Once again, that is not the official term. I believe the official term is enamel hypoplasia. The dentist hadn't seen it exactly like this in real life before. This is when I asked him how long he's been a dentist. Because he kept saying that. (Older daughter had a transposed canine, which is weird and cool, but I've discussed it in a previous post). I don't think that word means what you think it means.  He's been a pediatric dentist for eleven years. So, he's seen many, many teeth. This version of enamel hypoplasia happened on one single permanent tooth (which the internet kind of thinks is weird. Google had no images of what I'm seeing). It looks like the tooth is the moon, and a bunch of meteors crashed into it it's bumpy and stuff.

Not pretty for a tooth. Kind of disturbing, to be honest. It is also sensitive to temperature and not protected with the enamel that keeps teeth safe. The dentist is going to smooth that out with some filling stuff, and she will probably need a crown when she grows up, too. Princess business. It runs in the family. I'm sorry she didn't get to eat an Oreo in order to need a crown.

The x-ray also revealed a 12-year-old molar that is possibly blocked by her wisdom tooth. It is a wait and see situation. The dentist had never seen this in that placement before. It is rare and special. Like a unicorn.

Remember in high school biology where you learned about hitchhiker thumbs and blood types and tongue rolling? I want to know about teeth. What in the world? Why did one of my little babies have a canine that took a little journey back into her jaw and popped out above her molars? Why did my other little baby have a crater tooth where the enamel just said "Nope, not doing that?" These are the genetic questions I wish to have answered. Also, they are expensive, in case you were wondering. But teeth are super important. I use them every day. Sometimes even multiple times.