Maundy Thursday 2014

Lent is penitential and Holy Week even more so . . . and nothing says 'penitential' like dental work, right? Our family experienced two episodes of Dental Drama this week.

On Tuesday evening, Joseph (1) was walking along carrying in his hands a cork drink coaster--not exactly a lethal weapon--which he then stuffed in his mouth, as toddlers are wont to do. When he stumbled, as they are also wont to do, the corner of the coaster hit his first lower left molar just perfectly right to almost knock it out!

I've seen plenty of mouth injuries and we all know they bleed profusely, but this was the most blood I'd seen. Of course, when it happened, my husband was out of town and dinner was burbling on the stove. The molar was knocked to about a 30- to 35-degree angle, the top pointing in toward the tongue, the bottom making the gum bulge out.

I spoke to our after-hours dentist, who said the emergency could wait till morning when I should go to a specialist dentist, and we were there by 9:30 a.m. (thanks so much to S---- for babysitting my girls!). What the specialist told me is that brand new baby teeth have such short roots that--while an adult tooth couldn't be at that angle without the roots having snapped--it is possible that Joseph's molar got knocked out of place without breaking the roots and it will re-settle and heal, the roots continuing to grow as normal. Rather than submit Joseph to an x ray that day (which I've got to imagine would require sedation!), the doctor recommended we give the baby two weeks to heal, then come back for a check-up. 

The only other concern is infection setting in, and we are armed with prescription antibiotics if it does. However, I am comforted at the thought that Joseph's wounded gum is being bathed one to two dozen times daily in natural antibodies custom-made (within about a half an hour) to respond to any germs to which he-and-Mama have been exposed . . . I am so grateful for nursing!

Already, forty-eight hours later, his molar is looking much straighter!

Our second Dental Drama this week was that John had a laser revision of his labial frenum.

My longtime friends will remember that John had a posterior tongue tie and lip tie for which he had a laser revision in New York at 15 months old. Many problems with nursing and eating solids were caused by the tongue tie, hence the correction. Unfortunately, the labial frenum grew back big as ever because, at that time, doctors apparently didn't know that stretching and rubbing exercises are required post-operatively.

John in the chair, happily watching a cartoon ahead of time

So, here we are at seven years old and we decided to take advantage of John's "seven-year gap" (both his top front teeth missing) to have the frenum removed . . . essentially a cosmetic procedure. This should allow his teeth to come in closer (without the big gap) or, if they still descend with a gap, orthodontia should easily correct the spacing instead of the rubber band-like frenum repeatedly stretching the teeth apart despite braces/a wire.

Joseph "praying" for his brother . . .
Mama trying to entertain the baby with her rosary!

The procedure went so well (and thanks to K---- for babysitting my girls!). John was very calm going into it, based on what little information I gave him. The dentist was quite skilled with his word choices about "sleepy medicine" and use of anesthesia, such that John had no idea he even received two shots of lidocaine.

There is vastly more information online about the world of tongue and lip ties now than seven years ago: this four-minute video of another seven-year-old undergoing this laser revision is very similar to what John underwent (except John's surgical wound is noticeably bigger).

A milkshake: doctor's orders!

After the procedure, the dentist said this is the one time he prescribes a cold milkshake to a child, and I said this was the one time during Lent I was going to give our boy such a dessert! The soreness is fairly mild and should last only 24-48 hours. This time around, we know about the stretching and rubbing exercises (three times daily for three weeks), which John is to do in order to prevent the fibrous frenum from reattaching.

And now we proceed full steam ahead--with our sore mouths--toward Good Friday and the Easter triduum!