milestone moments: On Ira's Hyperdontia

The other day we had an unscheduled trip to the dentist at Presbytarian High School. Ira's school dental clinic is not equipped with an x-ray facility so he was referred by the school dentist to Presbytarian High.

Weeks before that, we noticed that the right front tooth seemed to be smaller compared to it's counterpart and it seemed to have an attached tooth behind it. The dentist thought maybe it was hyperdontia (an extra tooth) and Ira had to go for xray when the tooth is a bit bigger. Last week, I decided to send him to the school dentist again for another check up because it looked like another tooth was coming out on top of the one he has now. To cut the story short, the dentist said it probably was an extra tooth and will have to be extracted. But before she could make any final decision, an x-ray of his teeth has to be done. Thus, his referral to Presbytarian High.

The appointment scheduled by the school dentist was for Tuesday at 2pm, but Ira has CCA on that day and I didn't want him to miss a session since he likes his CCA. I called the Presbytarian High dental clinic and asked if there was a way we could have his schedule changed. Luckily the clinic has a vacant slot for Monday at 3pm. I grabbed that slot, waited for Ira's dismissal, bought him lunch in school and took the bus to the dental clinic after lunch. I told him that he was going to have x-ray to check his tooth and he may have an extraction.

We arrived just 10minutes before 3pm, signed in with the security of the school and walked straight to the clinic. The dentist was already waiting for us. She was so accommodating and nice and she explained to me and Ira what was going to happen.

I took the backseat as the dentist ushered him to the x-ray booth. We then waited (like a lifetime of waiting) for the results. Once the x-ray result was ready, we were called back to see the x-ray. He did have an extra tooth and it was already impeding the proper growth and alignment of the other permanent teeth that are still to come out. The extra tooth was surprisingly big, according to the dentist, that she was also wondering why the shape was like that. Ira ended up having the tooth extracted right there and then.

The dentist and her assistant were constantly reassuring him that everything was going to be ok as they explained the procedure to him while I watched (with an aching heart, sending updates to hubby as it happens) at the sidelines. He put up a brave front. I heard some soft squeaks which made me weak in the knees as I couldn't do anything to console him (parents were off limits, i think, as i was sent back to the waiting area before the start of the procedure).

When the tooth was finally extracted, the dentist showed me how big and long it was (I had to take a photo of it with a 10-cent coin for comparison). I was relieved and glad that Ira did well and wasn't in pain. The dentist gave her instructions on how to take care of the gums and what Ira can or cannot eat as we prepared to leave the clinic.

He was still chatty while we were walking to the bus stop. The bus driver was even gesturing to him that he did well and he was a brave boy (it was quite obvious that he had a tooth extraction as a small part of the gauze was protruding out of his mouth.

I put him to sleep when we got home, but that was after watching tv for about 30minutes. When he woke up just in time for dinner, he said he was very hungry and insisted he could eat chicken rice! No pain whatsoever after the extraction. I guess the dentist has "light" hands. Or did he get some of my "high pain threshold" genes????

When it was time for bed, he almost forgot to put his tooth under his pillow. The tooth fairy is going to be broke for sure!