Cleft Stories

Emily had her annual cleft team visit at NYU last Wednesday. We went into the city a bit early with the intention of stopping at Toys R Us but we couldn’t find the store (Google maps was WRONG), so we ended up taking a nice stroll from Broadway to 1st Avenue which the girls loved. Emily calls New York City her city.

Here’s a shot of Emily just before we got into the car for the long drive to NYU. Her new thing is pose like this. She’s such a ham.

So the team visit was uneventful and went quick. They took photos of Emily and her surgeon, Dr. Cutting, spoke to us for about 5 or 10 minutes about what to expect next year – mainly, orthodontia. They’re not going to do anything this year with her. Shelley, the NYU speech therapist and team coordinator had Emily recite some numbers and make some sounds to assess her speech, and the pediatric dentist on the team (he was actually the head of Pediatric Dentistry at NYU) told us Emily really needed to be seen by a pediatric dentist every three months.

Uh oh. News to us. I figured twice a year was good, and Emily hadn’t been to see her dentist since last April (er, bad me). The team dentist also said regular brushing might not be enough for Emily and there were products that they can suggest to help us fight tooth decay. Unfortunately in all the commotion we didn’t get the name of any of those products.

So I made an appointment with Emily’s local dentist and she saw him today (so did Ana). Emily’s teeth were counted and cleaned. She did great! She has one small cavity and we’re getting that filled in a couple of weeks. Her cavity is on her upper incisor and the dentist says it should only take about 10 minutes to fill. I’m not surprised because her top front teeth are so incredibly hard to brush. I can’t even see them, plus they’re kind of crooked and there’s some rough surface area where food is prone to getting stuck.

I still have some questions for NYU that I wish I’d asked.

How often will she need to be seen by the orthodontist once she gets her palate expander?

What’s involved in being fitted for the expander? Will it hurt?

How much will it cost? I’m assuming my insurance won’t cover it because it’s dental stuff and not medical. I’m pretty concerned about this.

How long will she need to wear it?

Can she see a local Orthodontist once the expander’s in place? (I’m just curious about this. I’m pretty sure we’ll be going to NYU for all orthodontia because they know their stuff).

I’ll post the answers to the above (except for NYU’s fees) once I know them.

For now, I leave you with a photo of my little pookie pie…