Surprise Tooth Fairy Visit for 3 Year Old

Took the twins to the oral surgeon today. Another one of those things as an adoptive parent you read about, prepare yourself for and expect you MIGHT have to do but really HOPE you won't have to encounter.

We have been struggling with dental issues with Khai since almost the moment we met him. The kid just has terrible teeth. I have read about the effects of malnutrition (and lack of vitamins) on a babies teeth while they are forming in their birth mothers womb and during those first crucial years of life. It all makes sense and right fully so explains why a lot of orphans have severe dental issues. We have spent thousands of dollars trying to save 4 of Khais front upper baby teeth. We were given the option at about 13 months to either extract all of them or try and save them. We decided to do whatever we could to try and save them. I thought at that young an age it might really effect his speech and eating habits to have no upper front teeth at such a crucial time in his development. We knew extracting would be a couple hundred dollars and repair would be thousands (remember we are talking about BABY TEETH that they are going to loose anyway).

The first repair took over 6 visits on a toddler. Mark had to take him because they suggested NOT medicating him because they said the needles would hurt more then the actual procedure. Even though it did not hurt he was a little baby and very scared. I went to the first visit and could hear him screaming and crying all the way out in the waiting room. I stood there for about 15 minutes with my stomach in knots and then couldn't stand it any longer. I found his room and burst in with the intention of grabbing him and running out of that office. The Dr ended just as I came in and said they were done for the day. Khai was laying on Marks lap and stopped screaming right away. I knew at that point I was doing him a disservice by being there and should delegate the repair to his Daddy. Since then the child has been to more dentist visits then any child should have to endure. He actually LOVES going to the dentist now and is so good for them (the prize and sticker at the end don't hurt).

I knew before our last visit his teeth seemed to be getting visibly worse. He had fallen a couple times and broke off parts of the teeth. Their didn't appear to be much tooth structure left on most of the teeth and what is left looks severely decayed. I had mentally prepared myself, before this last visit, that we had taken the repair as far as we could, had earned him an extra 2 years to get through a lot of those crucial periods, but it was time to extract them. There was no doubt in my mind that we would be leaving that day with the Dentists suggestion to extract all 4 teeth. I had talked to both Khai and Meliah prior to the appointment to prepare them. It helped that Saige had just lost another baby tooth and he had been walking around for a week asking to loose his teeth like Saige. I got Khai all pumped up about the tooth fairy coming. I then had a long conversation with Meliah about WHY she would not be loosing her teeth yet. Finally she looks at me and says "Oh I know, Khai has UGLY teeth so he has to loose them but Meliah and Mommy have PRETTY teeth so we not". Well okay that's one way of putting it.

Per our suggestion the Dentist came over to examine Khais teeth and just visibly looking at them said "Oh yeah, I see what you mean. They look really bad. Do you want to try and repair again or just extract them". Before he was even done his sentence I said "Just take them out. I'm DONE !!!". He was like "Okay Mama just wants them out" and then he proceeded to physically examine them. Once he was done he laid a shocker on me. He said he had thought the same thing as me when he first saw them but upon further examination they were not rotten as appeared but solid. The fluoride had actually hardened them and it was purely cosmetic discoloration at this point. He said at this point he would not suggest removing these teeth because there was no rot, no infection and had actually structurally improved. They looked like crap but that was purely cosmetic in his opinion. I agreed, that after hearing that, we couldn't take out his teeth for purely cosmetic reasons and agreed we would reevaluate in 3 months.

Then he went over to look at Meliahs BEAUTIFUL looking teeth because she has a LITTLE cavity between the front 2 upper teeth. He sits down and within 2 seconds tells me Meliah has to have her front 2 upper teeth extracted IMMEDIATELY(not even ANY talk of repair). I almost fell off my chair. Never had it even occurred to me that she would need to have her perfect little teeth removed. He showed me a little pimple on her gums and said it was infection and what they had expected to see in Khai but did not find.

Then I had to explain to 2 three year olds the turn of events. Meliah was okay with going to sleep and getting her pretty teeth out but of course Khai was upset the tooth fairy would not be coming like Mommy had told him. Meliah immediately looked at Khai and said "I have TWO teeth. I share my teeth with you Khai Khai" so they could both have a visit from the tooth fairy. This was one of the cutest, most generous things I have ever seen. I am so proud of her.

So one week from today, My beautiful, generous little girl with her beautiful little smile will be minus two front teeth and waiting for the tooth fairy to visit her and her brother.