William Visits the Orthodontist

This is the latest post in the series of William, grace and Juliet's journey with hypophosphatasia.

It's been a nice long while since I had to update any of the kids' doctor visits!  This appointment for William was just a recall, waiting for when they find that his teeth are ready for braces!

Somehow, I got it into my head that we needed to leave really, really early, and so we made it to Ann Arbor with like 2 hours to wait.  Since we had our lunches with us, we opted to go find some thirft stores! 

There is a lot more to Ann Arbor than I knew!  It is a lovely town.

We first went to the salvation army, since I knew what to expect there.  We didn't buy much, except for a calculator (of unknown working condition) for Leon.

At the next thrift store we bought more, but ran out of time.  Should the opportunity ever arise again, we will go there first!  They had so much, and really good prices. = )

We navigated back to campus through the detours and road work, making it in plenty of time for his appointment.  

 We are still in 'wait' mode, but did have to schedule for a tooth extraction later this summer. = (

After the appointment we enjoyed our lunch in the atrium, and then drove back with plenty of time to pick up the girls, though I think I might have had Avia or Billy on call to get them, should we have hit traffic.

later days

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edit: written 6-17-23 backdated for continuity. 

Dental Visits

This is the latest post in the series of William, grace and Juliet's journey with hypophosphatasia.

We have actually had 2 visits to the dental clinic down at UofM, since the last time I posted.

This visit was just a routine cleaning for all 3, that had been delayed at least once.  William and Juliet got good, boring reports.  Poor Grace has to go in for some cavity fillings that formed in her poor soft teeth (the same ones Juliet had in the past.)  That appointment is next week.

Today we went back, for William to check in with his orthodontist.  I failed to take a picture while we were eating our lunch, but we did eat in the courtyard, as is tradition.

No braces for our boy just yet, he has a few bottom teeth that need to come out first.  They are wiggly, so if he is able to wiggle them out before the appointment with the regular clinic comes up, they won't have to pull them.  If not, we'll make a trip down for them to pull those two teeth, sometime before his next orthodontic appointment, in 6 months.

My friend Jessica takes her child to the same clinic every 4-6 weeks, so I'm hopeful that maybe one day we can carpool to break up the long, boring drive!

later days

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William Returns to the Orthodontist

This is the latest post in the series of William, grace and Juliet's journey with hypophosphatasia.

William went to see the orthodontist again, to see if he has grown enough for a braces treatment.

After driving through commencement traffic and a campus filled with graduating students and their family, we were happy to be in a conventionally busy waiting room.

His exam did not take long, even with the xrays.  The plan has not changed, we are continuing to wait.  He'll go back in 9 months to see if his baby teeth have fallen out and then they will make a new plan.

After the appointment, we went down to the coffee shop.  They had a new art exhibit in the atrium. 

And, since we arrived just minutes before they closed up shop for the day, William was gifted the last cookie.

Very thankful that these medical posts are so few and far between these days.  Also thankful that we have experts that are not too far away.

later days

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William visits the newest Orthodontist

This is the latest post in the series of William, grace and Juliet's journey with hypophosphatasia.

William met with a doctor who was outgoing, and so this was our first meeting with the new, incoming, dental class doctor. 

After reviewing all of the documentation that they had taken from William on his previous trip, they decided that for now, we are just going to wait.  She indicated that he will, at some point in the future, have to have braces, but that time is not now.  She wants to see what happens when all four of his front upper and lower teeth come in. 

Some good news, he might be a candidate for Invisalign!  I truly hope that he can, because driving to the dentist over an hour away, for a popped off bracket would be upsetting for all involved.  It will take some serious discipline on our part, but I think we can do it!

But, for right now, his next appointment with the orthodontist isn't for 6 more months.

After his appointment, we found a cozy corner in which to eat lunch and for William to knock out his math, so that he didn't have to do it upon our return.  

We saw some new parts of campus, thanks to a faulty parking booth arm, and all for the better.  Seeing the buildings nestled among the trees reminded me of the pictures I'd seen of some of the east coast universities.

All in all, it was a good trip, a little long for what we actually learned, but I'll take any good news I can get about William's teeth!

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Orthodontic Consultation

This is the latest post in the series of William, grace and Juliet's journey with hypophosphatasia.

I am so pleased that this is the first post in a very, very long time that is just medical!

At William's last dental check up, they raised concern that with his early primary tooth loss, that his adult teeth would not have a clear path to erupt.  So, they sent us to the orthodontic clinic.  We had to wait a few months for an appointment, which was just as well, since we needed to get their office added to the list for the CSHCS.

The drive down was uneventful.  The entire building is under construction, so we tried to check in at 3 incorrect counters before finding the correct office. = 0

Once we were checked in, William worked on his math and reading that we brought.*

He had some trepidation about going, despite this just being a consultation, since he had two teeth pulled, two visits in a row last year!  There were a few tears, but he did really well!

After his very short appointment, we had lunch in the atrium.  

Essentially, we have no new plan, just paperwork to complete and then making a new appointment for x-rays to actually get to the point where we can have a plan. 

After lunch, we packed up and took a backroad home.  It was a pleasant day, and we stopped at a garage sale, where he scored a new treasure. ; )

later days

*to prepare for his appointment day, we rearranged our school schedule, so that all we would have would be math and reading.  I love that we didn't miss out on anything, homeschooling has been such a lovely blessing!

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