Emily was seen by Dr. Grayson on Friday. It had been a year and a half since our last visit..or maybe about a year, but in any case it was a while. Here’s a couple of shots of her in the chair:
I’ve seen Emily in dentist and orthodontist chairs so much in her short life that a trip to the dentist doesn’t produce any anxiety for me (or Emily, for that matter) at all. Dr. Grayson said he wanted us to get an iCat scan for Emily which would enable him to see a three dimensional image of her teeth. We were lucky enough to get an appointment the same day with an orthodontist who had an iCat machine right in his office, which was about an hour north of the city in Westchester, and en route home for us. Still, it made for a long day. The iCat was amazing though! I don’t have images of Emily’s iCat (and I’m not sure how I feel about posting medical photos of her on the blog), but here’s a sample of what iCat pictures look like:
As you can see, this appears to be a middle aged man so, again, not EMILY.
Here he is from the side.
The scan was taken in a machine that looks like this – and seriously took about 4 minutes to complete.
Emily has always had the ability to sit very still for x-rays and photos and this time was no different. The i-Cat allows the orthodontist (in this case, Dr. Grayson), to pivot the image and look at her teeth from the side, the bottom, the top – whatever. It was an amazing and unnerving thing to behold my child’s skull. I also now have a very strong appreciation for how healthy the above patient’s teeth are compared to Emily’s. Well, healthy may not be the correct word – “normal” maybe is perhaps a more appropriate term.
We have another visit scheduled at NYU on 10/6 to review the i-Cat results with Dr. Grayson and Dr. Cutting (Emily’s surgeon). At that point we’ll learn if/when she’s starting her orthodontia (see this post for details on that) and we’ll hopefully get the definitive word on whether or not she’ll need a bone graft on her right side.
In a word, I am overwhelmed. This phase of Emily’s treatment was always inevitable. I know that. But it’s all happening so fast. I hate to see her going through all of this now. In many ways, it was easier when she was a baby and didn’t know what surgery was or understand what it means to wear an appliance in her mouth.
Back then, she didn’t know she was different from everyone else, but now we’re in the thick of it – first grade. I find myself wishing she could just be a kid like every other kid. What 6-year-old knows their orthodontist by name? But I guess we just have to take what life gives us and try to grow from it. I think I’ll be updating the blog more now that we’ve hit this phase of Emily’s life (and treatment).
Of course I need to end with one happy kid shot though!
She’s so silly.
