Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Dear Noah

So this morning I noticed new front lower teeth coming in BEHIND your baby front lower teeth. We can only hope and pray your baby teeth come out and soon and make room for the permanent. I cannot imagine what it might be like to try to get you to see a dentist let alone have to have something major done. They would have to sedate you and sedate you just to sedate you....and I don't know how they can even do that! AND then they would have to keep you sedated probably as your mouth would hurt and you would be screaming and crying probably afterwards. Well maybe not.

We have been praying all along we could avoid taking you to a dentist until you were older and maybe could understand things better and handle things better. Like 9-10 years old. Your teeth have looked very good up till now and you have had no problems. I have noticed lately however they look funny. A bit see-through. Then today I noticed the double tooth. I have researched it and have found out it is nothing to worry about now. Not anything emergent. BUT.......if the baby teeth don't come out soon...then it could be a problem.

Please Dear Lord let Noah lose his teeth normally so his permanent teeth can come in okay and be okay and healthy and strong and let him handle it all well. IF he has to have some type of procedure done please allow us to find and EASY way to sedate him and prepare the way to have it all done. Something easy on him and his mouth. It is bad enough pulling teeth in little kids who have no issues. But autism and sensory integration and anxiety issues? OH my.

Thank you Lord in advance for hearing and answering my prayer!

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5 comments:

Patty said...

Yes, I pray to that his teeth will fall out on their own and the new ones come in OK. Can you get a book or a video from the library explaining this to him that he can understand? It would be nice if he could see some other children that are losing their teeth making room for the new ones.

Love you both!

9:47 AM
Me said...

Thank you for your insightful comments on my page. I had the same concern with Brandon when he was younger. He was missing his lateral incisor for quite some time and there came a point that I thought he just would never grow one. But just when I gave up hope, I saw his tooth had broken one day. Noah will be fine and I pray that his teeth will be healed in the name of Jesus!

11:05 AM
Lynanne said...

We just went through this during the summer. The dentist called it "shark teeth" (since sharks have more than one row of teeth). The first time we had the baby tooth pulled while he was sedated to have cavities filled. The dentist said it wasn't necessary to pull it, but I pressed for it because I wasn't sure how my son would react to losing it on his own when his mouth wasn't numb. When the second tooth came through behind the baby tooth, the dentist (different dentist) convinced us to let it fall out on its own. The permanent tooth came all the way through and he had 2 teeth for a couple months. But, the dentist was right – eventually it did fall out. Our son wiggled it out himself after it almost fell out while eating corn-on-the-cob. I couldn’t believe it! We have a hard time even getting him to brush his teeth because of sensory issues.

Our son has been to the dentist several times. I’d like to say pediatric dentists are better but our last experience was a nightmare (I blogged about it in early September.) I was going to send the dentist information on autism and dental work in case we ever went back there. Then I decided that we’re just not going back. I can send you some of the materials I collected if you want. It would be all familiar stuff for you, but you could customize it for your son and give it to his dentist before his first visit.

5:13 PM
Melinda said...

well I think it is extremely important to not only find a pediatric dentist but preferably one who has dealt with autistic kids with sensory integration issues. Not sure if I will find one like that or not. I imagine the Children's Hospital has one or two. I will have to check. PLEASE forward any info you care to share as I can always add it to my files for reference!! ;)

5:18 PM
Lynanne said...

Our son’s first dentist was in a pediatric dental clinic in a building of the children’s hospital that is entirely dedicated to treating children with special needs. Unfortunately, the dentist mainly had experience with the lower end of the spectrum. The staff was very good but often didn’t know how to communicate on our son's level. He has a language delay but is ahead of his peers academically. Before my son’s next appointment, his special education teacher called the dentist and wrote a social story which helped a lot.

The second pediatric dentist was in our small town. Unlike the hospital dental clinic, the second clinic had private exam rooms and video monitors for children to watch movies/tv/etc. We thought this would help calm our son and would be an alternative to using medication. He doesn’t watch much TV but when he does, he’s like a zombie. The dentist claimed he had experience treating kids with autism. What he neglected to tell us was that his STAFF didn't have ANY experience or knowledge. A dental hygienist cleaned my son's teeth and it was such a horrible experience that it is going to take a long time to undo the damage she did.

So, even pediatric dentists who claim to have experience with autism might have difficulty with children with high functioning autism and other closely related PDDs. I’m not sure why this is.. Do most parents of these children just take them to family dentists? Also, it seems sensory issues are common in children without autism so I would have expected both dentists to be better versed?

I couldn’t find your email address to send the info sheets to. Could you send email to me at lynanne@gmail.com. Thanks and good luck with your son!

5:24 PM

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