Makenzie's bottom front gum has been receding for about a year at least now. At her last cleaning at the dentist, we got a referral to an orthodontist who referred us to a periodontist. We saw him this morning and got an explanation of the problem and the schedule of events.
If you stick your tongue up -- way up -- you'll feel a flappy-thing of skin. Same thing on the bottom part of the mouth, too. Most people's flappy thing connects from the lip to about a quarter of the gum or at most half. Makenzie's, however, grew between her teeth and connects behind the teeth. This is a problem, but I don't really remember why for the top teeth. It caused the receding gum for the bottom teeth, though. So at the end of July, Makenzie will be having out-patient oral surgery to remove that flappy thing growing between her top front teeth. Three weeks later, she'll have a skin graft and something else done to correct the problem on the bottom set of teeth. She'll take some valium before the appointment so that she's good and relaxed (I'm hoping to sneak some for myself since I almost threw up/passed out just watching him LOOK at her mouth and then discuss all this). He'll put a topical anesthetic on her gum so that he can give her a shot in the gum (more anesthetic). The first surgery will take about 45 minutes, and the second will take about an hour.
Neither Makenzie nor I am looking forward to this in any way, but it has to be done. If that gum recedes any further, the root of her tooth will be exposed -- NOT good! The only good parts of the recovery for Makenzie is that I promised her a new movie, she gets to stay in my bed for a few days, and the boys will be delegated to places where they will not have any contact whatsoever with her. Even if "no brothers" were the only perk, she'd almost be looking forward to it a little bit!
So I know this picture is not flattering to my little princess, but I wanted to see (and share) this situation:
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Poor thing!! Amber had something similar, but she outgrew it. At least I think she did - no one mentions it anymore at her dentist visits. BUT it wasn't causing her gums to recede.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't even go back with Amber yesterday to have a baby tooth pulled. Austin had to have some pretty major oral surgery when he was 4 and 5 . . . . . Tyler went with him both times. I'm a wimp!!