I knew something wasn't quite right when the hygienist asked me several times how old Lily was...and if I was sure?!?
Then the hygienist called in the dentist...who then called in another dentist. They shared with me that Lily had quite a few loose teeth. Huh??? Tony or I help Lily brush/floss her teeth every morning and night. How could we have missed this???
I wasn't the only one that was puzzled. The hygienist and two dentist were VERY surprised/concerned.
Lily's teeth have never had any decay and her gums are healthy. There is a natural order to losing teeth and Lily's loose teeth weren't following that order.
Lily's dentist asked me if Lily had had any trauma to her mouth. In the time we've been a family Lily has had no trauma to her mouth. There is no way of knowing if Lily had trauma to her mouth before we were united, but it turns out the dentists didn't really think Lily's loose teeth were a result of trauma because they didn't fit a "typical trauma pattern" (ie. they aren't right next to each other).
The dentist asked my permission to take x-rays of Lily's teeth. The x-rays showed that the roots of 6 of Lily's teeth are almost completely reabsorbed. Yes, I said SIX. That's over a 1/3 of all the teeth Lily has in her mouth!!
Apparently, there are some really AWFUL syndromes associated with premature loss of baby teeth. So, Lily's dentist asked me to follow up with her pediatrician as soon as possible.
I spoke with Lily's pediatrician that afternoon and she immediately sent us for blood work and a wrist x-ray to determine Lily's bone age in case Lily was, in fact, older than we thought.
For the most part, the initial tests came back looking fine. Lily's bone age was right where it should be for a 4 year old. The only thing that was way off was Lily's Vitamin D level. It was very low.
This was very surprising. Lily eats a well balanced diet, plays outside every day, and takes a children's multi-vitamin. Based on her other levels (calcium, etc.) Lily's pediatrician thought perhaps the Vitamin D reading was inaccurate. Subsequent testing proved that it was inaccurate.
Lily's pediatrician conferred with Lily's pediatric dentist, the Dental College, and Lily's urologist and sent Lily for more tests. To make a very long story short...Lily appears to be healthy as can be. A HUGE answered prayer! Thank God!!
All the doctors involved are still scratching their heads, but feel confident that what's happening with Lily's teeth is an anomaly and not a symptom of a bigger problem.
Lily's official diagnosis: Atypical Apical Root Absorption. Try saying that 10 times fast!
Basically it means, for reasons we don't understand, the roots of Lily's baby teeth are absorbing before they should...and in a different order than they should.
Could this be hereditary? Maybe. Maybe not. We probably will never know.
Could it be as a result of Lily's Melamine exposure. Maybe. Maybe not. We may never know.
What we do know is that Lily does have permanent teeth, but they are nowhere near ready to come in (we're talking years and years). As a result, when Lily's loses these 6 teeth (and possibly more) she will need to be fitted with prosthetic teeth/spacers or something along those lines while we wait for her permanent teeth to come in.
Our girl has been a trooper through all of this and is eagerly awaiting a visit from the tooth fairy. With 6 loose teeth I think I may need to find a part-time job!
Oh, an if you'd like some photographic proof that our girl is doing great...here are a few before and after photos of Lily's new sassy 'do. In fact, Lily told me that she thinks they should change the name of her style of haircut from "a Bob" to "a Lily".
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