Marissa has oral surgery

Marissa had to have surgery on Wednesday.  At first Mark had made the appointment for the Friday before Christmas - now I'm so glad that there was an opening three days after Christmas.  I didn't want her to be in any pain on such a special day.  She was so brave.

Her appointment was at 9:00 AM.  Her permanent canine tooth didn't come in where it was supposed to.  In fact, it didn't come in at all; it came in horizontal across the palette of her roof of her mouth.  Because that tooth didn't come in where it was supposed to the baby canine never got pushed out.  Today they had to go in an remove the baby canine tooth, then cut open (expose) the permanent canine so that the orthodontist can put a hook on the tooth to pull it down into it's proper place.

She was in surgery for approximately one hour.  She had laughing gas, Novocain and then a general anesthesia.  When she came out she was completely unaware of what happened to her.  The doctor said she did great and that the spacing looks even better than they originally thought.  There is a worry that the permanent canine might kill another tooth because the path runs so close to that tooth's root.  We are hoping it will have enough space not to damage the lateral tooth next to the canine.

Marissa was a great patient.  She came home well.  She can only eat soft food (no sucking out of a straw).