
I had read that studies have shown that premature infants have an increased risk for developing dental problems such as: delayed tooth eruption, enamel hypoplasia, tooth discoloration, palatal groove, and a possible increased risk for needing braces....and yada, yada, yada. You can read more about that here. So I just wanted to get Lily in with someone to see how she was doing and if there was anything we should/shouldn't be doing.
We went back with Lily and Dr. Chybowski had Lily sit on my lap facing me and then I tilted her back and the Dr. brushed her teeth and looked at them. Lily screamed the whole time, but it was only about 5 minutes. Eventually after several visits when Lily gets used to him looking in her mouth, we will move her to the chair.
Dr. Chybowski said that everything looked good, he said that she is a little behind in getting her teeth in, but they will eventually come in. He also reassured us that use of a pacifier is okay - the teeth may eventually start to shift outward, but as soon as she drops the Nuk they go back (we are planning on trying to drop the Nuk after our flights anyways, but was good to here for everyone who tries to tell me it will ruin Lily's teeth - it won't).
He also said Lily has a thick frenum that is low (the piece of skin that runs vertically attaching your upper lip to your mouth - learn something new everyday!), which is causing her to have a gap in between her two front teeth. Most children end up ripping it themselves during a fall, otherwise down the road, if her teeth don't move together after she gets her permanent teeth, they would look at snipping it or something. Hopefully her teeth will just push themselves together - I'm not really worried about this right now.
We need to go back in about 9 months when Dr. Chybowski thinks Lily will have all her molars and take another look.
Chris and I both agreed that we liked him very much, which was reassuring because don't we all want our children to not be as scared of the dentist as we were?? Is that even possible?
