Nathan's Oral Surgery

At the dentist, she discovered that his 6 year molar was coming in at an angle. When she took an x-ray, she discovered that the molar has eaten away part of the baby tooth. She sent us to the orthodontist to take care of the problem.

Orthodontist took a panoramic x-ray and discovered that Nathan does not have permanent teeth behind the two baby teeth next to the molars. The ortho decided to have the baby tooth that is being eaten away removed. She will allow the molar to drift for now and when he gets enough permanent teeth, we'll pull the matching baby tooth and use retainers to straighten his teeth.

Our dentist didn't want to pull the tooth and felt it would be better handled by an oral surgeon. Last week we were able to get Nathan in to have his tooth removed. We chose IV sedation because of the anxiety he goes through for just a routine cleaning. No sense having him awake while they pull the tooth out!

Here he is before surgery in the waiting room. We took Teddy with us for moral support. Nathan was confidant that the numbing cream they would put on his arm would help him be relaxed while the IV was inserted.

Here's Nathan with numbing cream on his arm and the back of his hand. We had to wait about 30 minutes for it to take effect.

After the fact, he told me he cried because the IV hurt a lot. Not sure if they were restraining him and that is what hurt or if he could still feel the IV going in. I forgot that 2E kids often feel above and beyond what normal people feel so numbing agents are not always truly effective for them.

Here he is after surgery. He's VERY groggy and trying to keep his eyes open so he could go home. They brought him to the van and we got him buckled in. He was happy that the bleeding had already stopped so he didn't have to use any more gauze. He hated having the gauze in his mouth.

By lunchtime, the sedation had worn off. He was still a little numb (you can see it in his smile), but he was hungry. We went to DQ and he got to eat applesauce, ice cream and an artic rush (slushie) for his lunch. Lunch of champions!

In the evening, he wanted to eat chips, onion rings, crunchy granola bars, etc. We managed to get him to survive with leftover Texas toast from lunch, a cereal bar chewed very carefully on the other side of his mouth and lots of jello and pudding. The next day, we took him out for the onion rings that he had been begging for on surgery day. He was thrilled that the tooth fairy brought him double because a pulled tooth is worth more than one that comes out on its own.