One tooth, two teeth, three teeth...Ah Ha, Ha, Ha!

Think back to your childhood, when you used to watch Sesame Street, when The Count came on to reveal the number of the day. It's with this jovial and almost sinister voice I think with when I consider all the teeth my son has in his left numerary bicuspid area, directly beneath the area of his now repaired cleft lip. Today the orthodontist asked me if I had gotten that tooth pulled as he'd asked before we began treatment. To which my response was, "we sure did," the memory of my son sucking on a blood soaked piece of gauze for half a day fresh in my mind.

Well, the tooth growing in it's place doesn't look right. In my mind I was responding "well of course it doesn't" before I verbally stated, "these seem to be tooth fragments." Some questions arose about his past x-rays, as this office doesn't appear to have all the ones I presented to them on file (eye roll please!) If they had they would have known this was not a normal tooth currently erupting and a larger, more fully formed tooth is lodged up in the upper jaw. At this revelation our (Tricare appointed) orthodontist stated we needed an oral surgeon, as he was "just a lowly orthodontist," and this was beyond his expertise. The thought of trying to get authorization for this through Tricare sent my head into a tizzy that's for sure. Since I'm not alone in this journey and I called upon a friend who has been there and very recently done that, and she eagerly agreed to help me walk through this one. She's got connections who are in the know...and I ain't ashamed to ask for her advice.

And I thought my day was going to be challenging because it seems time to get Number 2 evaluated for orthodontic care and I had planned on beginning the paperwork for that during our appointment...which I did. Never time to get comfortable, as once you've mastered some little trial in life, along comes another hurdle to recon with. Despite all that I felt like I've accomplished a lot today, fresh and ready to take it on!

Up to today I was thinking that the smartest thing to do would be to have both children see the same orthodontist (booking appointments at the same time seems all to convenient). However, perhaps I should seek out a few different opinions for my second child because according to her regular dentist (and though she is not cleft affected) her teeth crowding and overbite are much more severe then her big brother. He always makes such a big deal about how amazingly (messed up) her teeth are, but thinks our cleft affected child isn't all that bad...ironically. That worries me some.