Mesidones (Or What In The World Is that?)

Not my child's tooth - but similar

Adding to the list of spectacularly awesome and rare things that our family has been diagnosed with, here comes the newest and most interesting!

A mesidone!

Have no idea what that is?

How about a few clues.

It is shiny, white and sharp. It is also protruding from the roof of one youngest daughter's mouth.

Yes, my friends.  It is a extra tooth.

And this one is coming straight from the roof of her mouth, behind her already erupted adult teeth.

Let me just preface this by saying that we are regulars at the dentist.  We have been going to the same guy for almost 20 years and he knows our family (almost) as closely as he does his own.  We went before we were married, after through two healthy pregnancys and throughout three moves to different towns.  In fact, one of his hygenists was a former neighbor at our second home and another was the coach of our oldest daughter's soccer team at this home.  No matter where we are, we have stayed close to this particular dentist. We trust him and that is as rare as everything we have been through.

Let me explain.

When our oldest daughter was born, her first set of baby teeth erupted, lacking enamel.  This is known as hypoplasia.  This rare condition is not exactly worrisome but does cause extra concern with the whiteness and sensitivity of her teeth.  As the adult teeth have come in, several also display hypoplasia.  Since we have been dealing with this for so long, our dentist has been great at maintaining her smile by adding composite material to strengthen the teeth.  When she is older, she will be a wonderful candidate for veneers and most likely, will forget that she ever had this issue.  Like type 1 diabetes, doctors suspect a combination of unfortunate genetics and possible environmental factors.  Unlike type 1 diabetes, hypoplasia can be treated and fixed.

In elementary school, our oldest daughter had an unfortunate playground accident which resulted in breaking her two front teeth.  Her beautiful, ADULT, front teeth.  Once again, we rushed to the dentist and after a referral to an oral surgeon for two root canals, we started the bonding process on the remaining pieces of tooth.  Our daughter's current smile is imperfect but adorable and will last until the rest of her adult teeth erupt and until we can start her on permenant restoration.

As you can see, it has been a long go with our dentist. 

Now here we are today. 

With one bonus tooth.  And the irony is that this little guy is extra white and shiny.  How perfect he could have been in the right child's mouth.  Instead, our youngest daughter is now facing her own oral surgery for removal and will be fully sedated.

And once again, we will be monitoring her blood sugars, asking her to fast the night before and hovering over that CGM while she is under.

Three surgeries in six months for two children. 

We need a vacation.

Enough said.