Yup, you read that right, the palatal expander lasted for one whole week! We even went on vacation with our water pik in tow and wouldn’t you just have guessed that the night before our follow up appointment with the ortho, my 8 y.o. walks into my room and says, “mom, something’s not right with my expander.” I get up to look and can clearly see one side of the expander just hanging down and not at all attached! I’m…
Well, the time has come for Gavin to have his annual Cleft Palate Center team check up and to see where we are at in progressing towards his eventual bone graft surgery. It was a loooong day for all of us. We made the trek to Santa Monica and it only took over an hour to get there with all of the a.m. 405 traffic. Sigh. Gavin was seen by his nurse, surgeon, dentist, orthodontist, pediatrician, speech pathologist and social worker….
Our little guy had his 6 month dental check up with our favorite dentist, Dr. Frank Enriquez! He got to put the purple tablet in his mouth that dauntingly showed where it is that he needs to be brushing better…shudder… As his mom, I know the purple tablet is “judging” me and letting everyone in the dental office know that we are not enforcing the flossing like we should be and we are not being as diligent about making him…
Probiotics have been incorporated into my family’s daily regimen and defense of our immune systems. I first became seriously interested in probiotics after my cleft affected son suffered from chronic ear infections and was on antibiotics more than he was off of them in the first few years of his life. His pediatrician brought to our attention that our son might begin experiencing GI (gastrointestinal) issues due to his gut flora being wiped out time and time again. Again, I…
As you may already know, having a cleft affected child means you need to be diligent when it comes to their dental care. It is not uncommon for cleft affected children to be born without some of their permanent teeth so taking care of the teeth they do have is of the utmost importance. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the phrase “where there are teeth, there is bone.” So keeping the teeth your cleft kiddo has,…
