All four kids had their dental check-ups today, and whew, it’s going to be an expensive coming decade. Tommy and Elizabeth have small jaws that will probably need some expanding, and their teeth are coming in huge and crooked. That’s normal at this stage, but the dentist affirmed that their mouths are so crowded that they won’t straighten out without help. Tommy has no room for the next adult teeth coming in, as his current teeth are taking up the space of two baby teeth apiece. We’re getting his first consultation with the office orthodontist next week. Elizabeth has an underbite, so her thumb- and finger-sucking is actually probably a good thing to help stretch out things. Susanna and Janie both have overbites, both exacerbated by their thumb-sucking. Dr. Gelman has been so good about talking through the girls’ thumb sucking habits over the last four years, and I know she is realistic about how much you can actually convince a child to do. At this point, though, if the little girls continue on their current trajectory, both of them will need help with the opposite problem the big kids have. And three of the four have deep crevices in their 6-year molars, so Tommy is going in for sealants next week, with the girls to follow as theirs come in all the way in the coming years. And we’ve been letting the big kids do their own flossing, and they’re so much worse than 6 months ago that we need to start doing it for them again…
On the plus side, Janie liked her first “real” dentist visit (the last time was just the introductory peek-a-boo visit where they gave her tons of stickers and junky plastic toys so she associates dentists with fun). Since we went during the school day, we had the office to ourselves. Now to coax the big kids to finish their schoolwork even though it’s the afternoon!
Note: Yes, Janie is wearing the same outfit today that she wore on Monday. It’s her uniform, just like the pink dress is Susie’s. I did laundry this week, so I promise they were clean when they put them on this morning. =)
Janie looks like she is being such a big girl!