SS had an appointment with her new dentist Monday. The poor thing was dragging in the morning and I told her she could nap as soon as she got home in the afternoon. That was a giant lie because I had forgotten about her dental appointment. Thankfully SS went easy on me about the bald face lie. Dr. L's office is pretty cool and SS really enjoyed the waiting room decor. Sadly we did not even spend 10 minutes in there, they run astonishingly on time.
SS really loved the tiger.
SS even got a kick out of the giant serpent on the tree.
Talk about lucky, one of the games is a Lego game that SS plays on her iPad. All that and free wifi.
SS was not scared at all, not even her usual anxious self. The dental hygienist was very nice and took her time explaining all the tools she would use.
We found out about Dr. L from the mom of SS's friends M and D. However we were not expecting the open setting. We like privacy so we are on the fence as to whether this will be SS's permanent dentist. They also have TVs on the ceiling much to SS's delight.
When I completed SS's intake forms I did not note that she is adopted, because to us that is glaringly obvious. Well it was not obvious to the dental hygienist and gave us a WTF moment. As she started the cleaning she mentioned that the biggest factor determining whether SS would have cavities is how many cavities we had. Huh? Yep, that's when we realized that a Hispanic Woman with a Caucasian husband, and an Asian child in common had not registered in her mind. I mentioned something about when SS came home from China and that is when the light bulb went on in her head. She then leaned towards us and said "Is she (then whispering) adopted.?" I told her there was no need to whisper, SS is well aware that she is not biologically our offspring. It did crack us up. Funny thing is that the hygienist is an adoptive mother herself. She is Filipino and her son was born in the Philippines, so in her case is not as obvious as our family. Then again not so obvious to everyone.
SS did wonderful during the cleaning, not a single complain or anxious look our way.
Cavity free and only needing another cleaning in six months, that's the good news. Remember how SS had a tooth removed when she was five? The girl had an extra tooth, so it didn't bother us to have it removed. When the dentist looked at SS's X-rays he began to talk animatedly to the hygienist, piquing our interest. Nothing good can come out of a seasoned dentist talking rapidly while examining your child's X-rays. It wasn't good, it turns out that SS is missing two permanent teeth. Missing as in not there, as is she will have an even larger gap once all her permanent teeth come in.
According to Dr. L it is rather common to have one missing bottom permanent tooth, two not so much. I don't why but I felt eviscerated upon hearing the news. Just like with cavities it's a genetic factor, not a thing we could have done to prevent the missing teeth. P's first question was how do we fix it, and how soon can we start? We have always known that SS would need braces, this knocked the air out of us a bit. When SS is 15-16 we will have her get tooth implants. Dr. L said that is the age when most kids get self conscious, I do think it may be earlier for SS. We already paid for braces for JJ, in SS's case her orthodontic bill is going to be a tad more expensive. Mental note, if we are going for another child, PLEASE G0d let him have great teeth.
It took SS FOREVER to select a toy,and by the time I came out of the bathroom she had changed her mind and selected another toy.
While SS was having her cleaning P and I were trying to come up with what we wanted to have for dinner. This really surprised the hygienists since it was not even 3:00 p.m. They were even more surprised when I told P that whatever he wanted I would make.I am comfortable saying that because I know P well, and he would not request a an extravagant dinner on short notice. And since we were by our favorite supermarket it was all part to the dental appointment trip.
When we arrived home JJ was eager to find out how the appointment went and if there were cavities. Little did he know what we had to share with him. P always the helpful news bearer grabbed by face while asking me to show my bottom teeth for demonstration purposes. He could have said that SS is missing the teeth on each side of the middle teeth. Not P, he needed to handle my face like one would a horse and opened my mouth for me. What can I say, my Prince Charming. As P is about to show JJ what teeth are missing he stopped mid sentence, his face contorted. Then in a high pitched voice he says to me "How the hell many teeth do you have." I have no idea why I did not know, but I do have an extra bottom tooth. The man was married to a freak and had no idea. I had to look in the mirror because I thought P was full of it. He wasn't I have an extra tooth while my daughter is missing some.
But wait, it gets better. I was reviewing what the dentist said to make sure I heard the information correctly. I said to P "Well, the dentist said it is genetic, so there's nothing we could have done." My husband's brilliant response? "Yeah totally genetic, her birth mother must have been missing permanent teeth as well." Wait a minute, her birth mother? How about her birth father? Are women the root of all evil that P could not even consider the birth father as being genetically deficient? SS was the product of a man and a woman, not just a woman. I did rag of P quite a long time that evening over his faux paus.
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