Not just any dentist but the best dentist in the world.

She was lovely. thorough and has brought us one giant step closer to havivg a type of Ectodermal Dysplasia for Ivy and Imogen.

I’m not really sure what having a ‘type’ will mean, aside from the fact that I have been able to access all kinds of journal publications about Rapp - Hodgkins and have a better understanding of the ED process. I am very thankful that they have a mild case and I am also thankful that their teeth can be looked after by our new paediatric dentist.

The practice also has three dental nurses, all were lovely and they were not phased by twin toddler tornadoes.

At all.

At one stage Noah mosied over to a nurse who was looking at xrays of a jaw. He looked at her and then pulled himself onto her lap.  She hugged him close and then explained the picture that was before them. It was totally sweet and so unlike anything I have experienced in professional rooms before.

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Today I am going to read William’s notes again.

It will be the last time.

I have been trying to access them for over six months.

Am I nervous?

Yes.

I want to take everything in, commit it to my memory for one last time.

I don’t want to forget the little things.

There is already so much of his birth that I can’t remember.

A whole significant portion of his birth that I have lost,

that I can’t piece together, no matter how hard I try.

For whatever reason, my brain cannot process it and so I have to read the notes to help.

I promised the obstetrician this would be the last time.

I am hoping for the sudden onset of a photographic memory…

Imogen’s time for braces has come.

Yesterday she went down to the Children’s Hospital and had spacers placed on her back  molars. Ironically her molars are overcrowded, where, in the front, she has small and missing teeth, leaving huge spaces in between each one. It hurt her, alot. They had to prise her molars apart to wedge the little round spacers in. Next week, there should be enough space for the metal rings for the braces to be placed.

I have never had to have braces, actually, I’ve never even had a filling, so I have no understanding of what my girl has had to go through thus far.

David has and does and has told me so many horror stories.

They filed his teeth down!

Filed. Them. Down!

Owwwwwie. No wonder he is petrifiied of the dentist.

The kids at school used to call her ‘crocodile teeth’ because, when you have Ectodermal Dysplasia, your teeth form in a conical shape. (David used to be called wolf boy for the same reason). When she was nine the dentist capped and reshaped some of her front teeth, so that they were square. As a result, she was a much happier girl.

I guess some things have changed since David was little.

Now we have come to the next phase. The braces will go on next Monday and stay on for about two years. Then they will build her teeth up and place titanium implants to encourage tooth regrowth.

The end result should be wonderful.