Chemical Dependency: Alcoholism
Center for Contining Dental Education
Chemical Dependency: Alcoholism
Center for Contining Dental Education
Following are messages (spelling and grammar not changed from original message) from parents/caretakers regarding dental treatment for their children:
Case #1
I will tell you a little bit about my son's dental history. Anyhoo my son came into my foster care at the age of 1 year weighing 12 lbs that was known as failure to thrive. He also had droopy lids and so had to cock his neck back at the atlas-axis to see out and even with that positioning had to search new objects, floors and people with his mouth in order to explore them. His hands were sometimes even held behind a little and not in use. His mouth was his hands at first.
We always had dental exams consisting of counting his teeth and taking a Polaroid of his mouth while he lay across two laps - mine and the intern of the day. These counting exams were looking for malformations. These are usually crowding and are among the list of syndrome characteristics presenting in FAS, to my best recollection this was from age 10 mo. until 4-ish.
Later - at around 4 and 5 years old we saw a dentist who worked with both special and normal kids and who had a quiet room for cleanings and fluoride treatment and general orientation to dentistry. This doc was very gentle and caring and we tried to use the same hygienist whenever possible for consistency. I held him on my lap the first few times there.
At around eight he had some other surgery and while we had him out on the table under general anesthesia, the head of pediatric dentistry at his hospital of birth gave him dental care consisting of exam, x-ray, cleaning, sealant onto molars, smoothing of a rough spot, filled one cavity, and plucked 1 or 2 baby teeth our of the way. Then we moved to another state and I was told if he was wiggly or uncooperative he could be harnessed to the chair. O boy. We have managed to have him cleaned 1-2x per year here though presently no dentist in a 75-mile radius to our rural home takes the public aide card.
My son needs braces now because of the large teeth he has in such a small jaw. His canines are buried up in his gums as he approaches 11 years old. His molars are in the way where the canines should be and he has a lower jaw that sticks out (partly, I feel, from that posture I mentioned in his first year). He also has low tone and slow growth, plus eating disorders (no appetite) and so it remains to be seen if he will tolerate the braces due to sensory defensiveness, how long his jaw growth will take vs. the 1 - 2 years estimated, and whether I can get enough calories into him with braces on.
