Two front teeth

This poor little baby has had her share of doctor visits since she has been born. In the month of May alone  we have been to the doctor 6 times filled 6 prescriptions and had 1 surgery. We are a little tired of the doctors.

Little Addi Boo has had huge swollen gums for months. Both times we had been in the ER I had mentioned her gums and wondered if they were the cause of all of her unexplained problems. But both times I was dismissed and told her gums were normal and the teeth would break through any time. After months of having a sick fussy baby I decided to take her in to the pediatric dentist. I felt a little silly and wondered if he would just dismiss me like the others but I just didn't feel like her gums were normal at all. He took one look at them and said he thought she might need surgery. He explained that sometimes gums can have an extra fibrous layer on them and the teeth can not break through on their own. He told me I could keep waiting and let her chew on things and brush her gums to try and get them through, or we could open up her gums for her. I asked him what he would do if it was his child and he said "I don't think surgery is the wrong choice." I hated to put her through a surgery but I couldn't see her suffer in pain anymore so we scheduled the surgery for the next day.

Here she is the morning of giving me big smiles.

 

Here are her huge swollen gums :(

When we arrived at the doctors office the anesthesiologist explained that instead of putting her under general anesthesia (the surgical center refused her case because of how small she is for her age) they were just going to give her a shot of Ketamine (sp?) in her shoulder. This only puts her in a dissociative sleep but does not suppress her breathing or other vitals. I would hold her as she fell asleep and then they would use the laser to   lacerate her gums open. Then I would come back and hold her as she woke up. Sounds ok right? WRONG. Ketamine does not put a baby into a peaceful sleep it makes their eyes glaze over and their body go limp... basically she looked dead. It was horrible. Then the doctor took her and told me to kiss her goodbye. Wrong words to say to a mother as you take away her limp child. I sat in the waiting room (alone...Chris was with the other kids at home) doing everything in my power not to go break down the door and beg them to wake my child up and give her back to me. I think that might have been the longest 15 minutes of my life. When they were done they took me back to her, she was still out of it but she now had two front teeth.

The doctor said her gums had been full of puss. Her teeth would have never broke through, the infection surrounding them would have just eroded them til there was nothing left. Luckily he was able to extract all the puss and infection and her teeth would be able to come in as normal.

It took her about an hour to come back to normal. She was moaning and flailing her arms around, I felt like a terrible mother for putting her through it. The dentist said there is a possibility none of her top teeth will be able to come through. I sure hope he is wrong. If not, Chris will be making a lot of dentist visits with her :)

Her teeth now look awesome and it is easy to tell she feels a tremendous amount of relief. I am so grateful for modern day technology and the incredible things they can do to make these little ones feel better.