I knew we had made the right decision when our orthodontist met with us to discuss his rejection of traditional dental and orthodontist models of practice - the focus on fixing symptoms of problems. Got a cavity? Fill it. Crowded teeth? Pull 'em. Refusal to connect issues such as sleep problems, attention problems, sinus problems, and ear infections etc., to a crowded mouth.
He believes the true mission of dentistry and orthodontia should be identification and prevention of problems. Everything from sinus and ear infections, thyroid problems, sleep apnea, bedwetting, the tendency to be "accident prone," attention problems, hyperactivity....the list goes on and on.
Orthodontic soul-mate...and one more incredible member of our team.
Lucas, who has been watching Ryan take care of his ultra hip slime green color expander for a couple weeks knew he was about to get the big kid treatment. Never mind I've been telling him everyday that his could be purple - his favorite color! He settled back into the chair and let the Dr. put mirrors in his mouth, perfectly following directions for "open wide," "close tight," and then it happened; The Dr. turned to me and said "I have never seen a child with Down Syndrome in all my years of practice with such a perfect bite pattern."
I told him of 20 months of nursing Lucas in a sitting position to strengthen the ligaments of the TMJ in the proper position with a chin tuck, and he was incredulous. "That makes perfect sense! Well done, his mouth is beautiful."
I think of all the compliments I could possibly receive, but that one will always be one of my favorites - it is the very first "professional" acknowledgement that we are thinking about things the correct way.
For new moms who may be reading this, this is the link to the article that revolutionized the way I thought about nursing as an infant and helped form our technique:
http://www.talktools.com/content/The+Oral-Motor+Myths+of+Down+syndrome.pdf
OK. All of this well and good but the rubber was about to meet the road. Should we try to make a mold today? I thought so. Lucas was pretty happy about the whole thing, and was in the right frame of mind, let's try.
We go into the other room where the tech was given specific directions that I had the ultimate say in all matters - when was the last time a specialist gave us that distinction?
Well, sweet Mary was clearly timid about the process, understandably she didn't know how this child would react - I didn't either, but it was one of those times when Lucas and I kind of have this connection - I knew it would be OK.
So she mixed the material and loaded it into the tray, which when it was all put together looked 6x's bigger than Lucas's mouth! She approached him, very sweetly and tentatively and was kind of waiting. Lucas opened wide, but the sheer size of the thing I think caused Mary to pause. No dice. The material hardened, no mold.
I looked at her, can we try again? Can I take the mold? She looked at me, "I don't know..."
"Really, I can do it, it will be fine." I said.
Reluctantly Mary mixed another tray full of material and handed it to me. I told Lucas to open wide, I slide the right side in and then the left...it was in! Lucas, clearly startled by the huge squishy thing in his mouth looked at me, and I calmly said, just relax, breathe like mommy, as I showed him in through the nose, out through the nose.
15 seconds later we had a perfect impression, and I had a new job if I so chose.
To say I am excited and so proud of Lucas would be an understatement. I really think the key was having him watch Ryan all that time. If he weren't in the house maybe finding a video of kids and expanders, I'm sure they exist, so that Lucas had a solid frame of reference.
We pick it up and have it fitted October 22.
I have no idea how the journey will go from there, but as our wonderful new partner said today.."His mouth is beautiful, what is the worst thing that can happen, we have to try again and again? Eventually we'll get it, we won't give up."
A specialist that won't give up on my son. An amazing morning. Talk to you on the 22nd!
