Yesterday was the big day. I took Hezekiah in to get two teeth pulled. After going over the options with our dentist, thinking, discussing with Chuck and doing a little research, we decided to do a little proactive-pulling. The idea is to pull a couple of baby teeth to make room for his permanent teeth to come move around and (hopefully) settle in straight. He has one that is nearly horizontal right now and we hope to free up enough space for his to come down in its proper position.
He is totally missing adult tooth #7 and #10 is pegged…who knows what his smile will look like naturally. Rather than to begin orthodontic work at age six, we are going to wait and see what happens…then pursue orthodontics if and when necessary.
Please exuse this photo…he's earned a new nickname: Stubborn-kiah…since he refused to smile for the camera. I caught this one as I made him laugh…then he ducked his head into his shirt…and no worries, he's not self-concious about his new look…he was just refusing to smile. When I said I wanted pictures of his teeth he did this:
And said, "Okay Mom, here's my teeth".
Ah, such a sweet boy.
It is good to hear that you chose that. The orthodontist recommended that we pull up to 6 teeth from my son’s mouth to be proactive for the same reason – OH they are so very crowded in there. But I was very leery of that. I still need a second opinion. Good to hear that you chose that. Hmm… still need to think about it though…
OUCH! But he’s so sticky sweet!
Gorgeous image,
Nancy
Ugh. I wish my parents had done that for me. I’m now 39 with a baby tooth! The adult tooth above it is horizontal and will not come down on its own. So I’m left with brown baby tooth, gap or braces with oral surgery to attach a chain to MAYBE pull the tooth down. Oh and it’s the third tooth in the front, nice.
Susan, it is so hard to know what to do. The dentist would like to put a spacer in and hold the space until he can get an implant…as an adult! We are taking a middle of the ground approach. Being proactive (pulling to let the adult teeth that are present decend properly) but not beginning full blown orthodontic work at age six…