dental problems

Calvin has terrible teeth! As a littler kid it wasn't anything out of the realm of normal. He always had lots of cavities, like his dad! In the last couple of years, especially this year we have had some other concerns. First is that he doesn't seem to be losing his baby teeth in time. At the age of 9 he had only lost 3 baby teeth. Most kids his age have the front 8 adult teeth in. Also, Calvin has ground his teeth so much that he has totally flat teeth. Even his molars are totally flat. It is crazy inside his mouth! His baby teeth that have been ground down are so small they don't look like they even belong in there!

We have talked to our dentist about this a couple of times but he said we shouldn't be too concerned. however, at our last visit he did tell us that a consult to orthodontics would be a good idea. The orthodontist was able to answer our questions. He recommended that 4 of the baby teeth get pulled to allow the adult teeth to come. The roots were not disintegrating as they should and it seemed that if they didn't get pulled he might have his permanent teeth growing in behind those baby teeth. He also recommended a couple of baby molars get pulled.

He said that though the baby teeth are ground down quite a bit, the newer adult teeth don't show that they are being ground so perhaps Calvin doesn't grind his teeth anymore. We will check again in 6 months and see if they still look okay. If there does appear to be severe grinding we will have to think about a mouth guard.

This week Calvin went in to get 1/2 of the work done - - they work only on one side of the mouth at a time. So, he got 3 teeth pulled and 1 cavity filled on his left side. In two weeks he'll get 3 teeth pulled on the other side of his mouth and some sealant put on adult molars in the back.

Calvin was a real trooper and very well behaved at the orthodontist and dentist.