Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Fang I and Fang II

"Where are her teeth????"

We get this a lot. Samantha is 3 1/2 and has no teeth. She will sport you a big, toothless grin, nibble on your pinkie, but no teeth. They are hiding up in her gums but they refuse to make an appearance.

We have several theories on why....

Theory #1: Samantha is tube fed. Tube fed babies get teeth later than orally fed babies because they don't bite or 'gum' food. There is nothing to push the teeth through. However, many of Samantha's tube fed buddies now have a full set of choppers.

Theory #2: It takes a lot of energy to push teeth through your gums. As Samantha's body is rationing how limited energy is to be spent, teething is not a priority. I agree with theory #2 but many kids with mitochondrial myopathy have teeth.

But honestly, I don't care. I monitor seizures, infections and any other health conditions Samantha's body throws our way. Teeth? Teeth are an after thought. We're not trying to feed her a steak and baked potato.

A couple days ago I was brushing her gums and noticed two little front, bottom teeth poking through. They are knobby, angry, little daggers but they are right there....
Samantha's teeth. I have named them Fang I and Fang II.

I tried to take a picture but all you see are her angry swollen little gums so we'll wait until Fang I and II make a more pronounced debut.

For me, with my vast medical experience (HA!) it means that her body is feeling stronger. She is not fighting C-dif, MRSA, Pseudomonas, or other little beasties that like to set up residence. I guess when I put it like that, I really do care that she has teeth.

Welcome Fang I and Fang II.

4 comments:

Deana said...

Aawww...I love her gummy smile! Now we'll get to know her fangy smile too!

Max broke his top teeth through while chomping down on the trach tube during his month of intubation with double pneumonia. Every one of his teeth caused break-through seizures. I hope it isn't so painful for her!!

Heidi said...

Welcome little teeth!! Looking forward to seeing you on Sat.!

Amanda Jaksha said...

Sammer, I knew they would appear...ms. momma - grab some orajel - I used the adult formula - 2x the punch of the baby night-time tube. Ava's teething experience was much more arduous than Aliza's - I suspect it had to do with reason one or reason two ;)

Anonymous said...

Samantha's GG will be so happy to hear that her teeth are making an appearance. Sam and I will discuss various ways she can use them when I am up there tomrrow!!

Love,
Mom

Trauma should be the hall pass to life's other issues. Someone should tell the hall monitor

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