Emily's First Dentist Appointment

Emily went to the dentist today for the first time ever. We decided to get her an appointment because she has been having trouble chewing meat for a while now. It has gotten to where it would take her at least an hour-and-a-half to finish her meal. The rest of the family is done with their first plate and she is still on her first bite of meat. This is after we have cut up her meat in teeny tiny pieces. A couple of times she started choking so bad that Andy thought he would have to perform the Heimlich maneuver. This past week, she also started having trouble chewing lettuce and corn. Andy and I wondered if her teeth were the problem or if her throat was the problem.

I got a recommendation for a pediatric dentist from my neighbor. Andy and I both LOVED him! He joked with Emily and included her in all of our conversations. She had x-rays done and her teeth cleaned. We had no complaints at all and would highly recommend this dentist to anyone else who is looking for one in the area.

It turns out it was Emily's teeth that were causing the problem. She actually has two teeth in the top front that are completely missing...they never even developed in her mouth. She also has two bottom teeth that never developed. She is missing a couple of permanent teeth underneath the baby teeth that haven't fallen out yet. Her molars don't meet in the back. There is a wide space between them when she bites down. This was a big part of not being able to chew because instead of being able to grind the food up, she just sort of mashes it. There were also several teeth that weren't aligned properly.

The good news is that he says all of this is fixable, but it will take some time. He reassured Emily several times that this wasn't her fault. She didn't have any cavities so he praised her on doing a good job on the one thing that she did have control over, brushing her teeth. We are going back in March to take more x-rays and see if any of the teeth have changed in that amount of time. After that, we will decide on a treatment plan.

Andy and I both felt good about waiting to see if anything changes, but we aren't looking forward to still having to cut her meat up really tiny. We were all relieved to know that her teeth were the reason why she has had such problems with chewing and that everything is fixable. Emily said she was glad that she had gone and she was looking forward to eating lots of steak once everything was fixed. :)