Bottle Rot and Wisdom Teeth

Now that everyone has been updated on the neighbor situation. I'll update everyone on my eldest daughter's surgery. She had bottle rot. We let her go to bed with a bottle filled with milk until she was about 1 years old. Apparently, that caused her front 4 teeth to rot out. We didn't find out how serious the damage was until recently.

We were originally informed by our first pediatrician, that it was okay to send her to bed with a bottle filled of milk.  This is categorically UNTRUE.  Milk actually has SUGAR in it (I didn't know this).  In fact, the bottle should ONLY be filled with water and you should try to wean your child OFF of sleeping with a bottle as soon as possible.  (Our youngest does not have teeth rot issues because of our new knowledge)

Bottle rot can happen to ANY kid, regardless of age/race/color/money. It only takes 2 weeks of sleeping with a bottle to cause it. Which is terrible. It is VERY common and is NOT a sign of abuse.  It can be a sign of many things, including poor instructions.  (This was also the same doctor that wrote down my daughter was autistic, she actually is NOT AT ALL and it took 2 years to remove that from her medical file.)

So, we had to have my daughter taken into a local hospital in order to get her front 4 teeth removed/capped. It cost us a total of $854.60, but it was worth it. Without our insurance it would have cost easily $2,000.  I didn't like seeing her flinch when she tried to eat. Breaks your heart when you see it, and I knew she was in a lot of pain.

She did really well during the whole thing. Afterwards, she curled up on my lap and passed out for about 3 hours. Most adorable time of her life. I felt loved and knew that she felt safe. Just one of those mommy moments.  She was a little swollen, but you can tell she had instant relief the first day after the surgery.

She hasn't needed any medication really, though we did give her some the first day. She looks like a whole new kiddling. I've never seen her with perfectly straight, white teeth in the front before. It took a little getting used to, and she is back to eating me out of house and home. That is good. Her gums still bleed when we brush where the caps were put in but that should stop soon.

Update:  8/13/2013

Since this was originally posted, my daughter has lost all of her caps off of her teeth normally.  After a while, the caps will be slowly pushed out by the "adult" teeth growing in.  We did have an issue where she swallowed her first loose tooth/cap, but that turned out to be okay.  Two years after the surgery, her capped teeth looked like REAL teeth and they were starting to come out.  Now, she has zero caps left.  She never had any issues eating or having pain with her teeth AFTER the initial bottle rot.

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Now onto my teeth issues. I have 4 wisdom teeth almost all the way in. I am way beyond the age of when they should be removed. The top two are coming in sideways (directly perpendicular into the other teeth) and the bottom two are almost completely in.

Apparently, the previous gum surgery I had only caused the back right wisdom tooth to become infected. They had removed part of my gum line in order to make room for my wisdom tooth. Now I am on a heavy dose of amoxocillin and in a lot of pain.

Tomorrow I have my first consult with the dentist. They might just up and remove them all together. It will cost us $1,500. That means no ND/WA trip. We are hoping that the insurance company will at least cover SOME of it. Who knows with them. They wouldn't cover Kenzie's white caps ($150.00 per tooth, but luckily they couldn't use the white caps...they used half white, half silver).

We shall see!

Update: 8/13/2013

 I had my wisdom teeth removed by a Dr. Anderson.  He put in several stitches, and it cost a total of $1,500.  I did eventually get dry socket, AND when he went to remove the stitches - he left several in.  So, my real dentist removed those for me.  My real dentist realized that because the stitches were left in so long, that the gums had grown over the stitches and caused yet another gum infection.  So, I had to have the gum removed along with the stitches.  Word to the wise: Make sure you see someone that knows what they are doing!!!