Minus Two

Well, we had to take Osiyyah to the dentist yesterday. The night before when he was brushing his teeth, he quit and started crying because something in his mouth was hurting him. So, we had to make an appointment at the dentist on Thursday to see what was up. We thought maybe he had a cavity going, because he has had a few issues with some cavities over the years.

Anyways, Osiyyah did okay at the dentist and only cried a couple times in his visit. But, he came out of the room with two less teeth. I'm so thankful for the dentist God provided for us in Tahlequah. He's so great! Easy going, doesn't care if a kid cries while he's working on them, will work on kids with special needs (because some won't touch a kid with DS at all for whatever reason!), etc.

Osiyyah came to the waiting room where I was sitting, when he was done, and the nurse and my mom said "smile at her" . . . well he did and his two front teeth were gone(!). The look on my face must've been a look of shock! I was really hoping he wouldn't have to have any teeth pulled and that it would just be a small little cavity. But, thankfully no cavity and his teeth were pulled because his "adult teeth" were/are starting to come in behind his baby teeth. So, he would've needed the teeth out sooner-than-later anyways. Wow, it's hard to believe he is already at the age where he can start losing his baby teeth.

I was a bit torn at first . . . his speech is already delayed and I wasn't sure how having two less teeth in his mouth would affect his speech and sounds. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to be affecting him too much yet.

But, I think there may be a benefit to it (gotta look at the bright side of things, right?!) . . . he has to use his molars and the side of his mouth to chew things more, which creates that up-and-down motion that he so desperately lacks when it comes to correctly chewing (oh wait . . . he doesn't have any correct chewing to begin with). Hopefully this will help facilitate that up-and-down motion! We shall see . . . it'll be interesting to watch. I can already see that he is *having* to use his jaw and molars more, so that right there is excellent.

Poor Osiyyah, he was so bummed out at first. He thought he couldn't eat anything hard anymore. So, we explained to him a few times over that he just has to do it differently. He can still eat. He can still bite things, just has to be done on the side. After all, his older brother had the same thing done (two front teeth out) when he was little and was just fine.

So, Osiyyah has realized that he can eat just fine . . . even hard or harder pieces of food like carrots, potatoes and even a snickers bar (although that's not part of our regular diet!), etc ;).

Well, I have more to post about sometime . . . hopefully throughout next week. I've got several speech related posts lined up and a couple others too! Stay tuned.

Have a good night!