Yesterday, John and Therese had their first dentist appointment. Therese did a great job lying still to have her teeth cleaned.
John complained about the light, so they loaned him some sunglasses. He was a good boy but he was very nervous about the medical setting and even big sister near him didn't make him relax. He did like the television in the ceiling and got a clean bill of dental health--no cavities!
Therese got back up so the dentist could have a look, and she of course wanted to try the sunglasses.
I knew Therese's teeth looked bad, but I didn't expect anything else from a child in an orphange who had probably never had her teeth brushed. When I gave her a toothbrush and showed her how to brush, she took to it with enthusiasm. She would brush for hours if she could, and they certainly looked better after a few weeks. The bad news we got yesterday was that her teeth are in terrible shape, not as much from decay as from malnutrition. I don't know why this made me as upset as it has. I know she was neglected and malnourshed, so it isn't that I'm surprised on an intellectual level. I'm upset because this is MY daughter, and in her past she didn't get the basic food she needed, so her teeth could form properly. My little girl has almost no enamel on her back teeth at all. No wonder she doesn't like cold food. I didn't think about that the reason could be her teeth, and assumed that it was because she hadn't ever had popsicles or ice cream before that she spits them out. Her teeth are incredibly sensitive and probably have been painful for years, and she doesn't know any better. I'm glad she is such a survivor, and she perservered in eating so she could get enough calories to live until her family found her, instead of just giving up. The dentist is going to spend some time writing up a treatment plan, because repairing her teeth will take a lot of time, not to mention expense, and we will have to figure out what order we need to do things. Even though these are her baby teeth, she needs them for several years to come.
