Lasering the Gums

(September 18th, 2023)

Daisy is my super slow teether. This started when she was little and has been the steady trend throughout her life. I was prophetic when she was younger and Daisy WAS still losing teeth as a teenager. I think we are finally at the end of the road. Dr. Jeff wanted Daisy to get rid of her last baby tooth and she finally did. (No extraction necessary.) Then, we needed to wait for the adult tooth to come down, so a brace could be put on it. 

But, since it is Daisy, that tooth has been taking its sweet time. Months later, Dr. Jeff didn't want to wait anymore. He gave the tooth an deadline. If it wasn't coming in faster, we'd set up an appointment to laser Daisy's gums! Yikes.

I'm sure you can guess from the title of this post that the tooth did not make adequate progress. It was there and you could see it. Can you see that tiny little point??

But it wasn't enough. It was time to expose more tooth to put a bracket on. Daisy was dubious. She knew this day was coming and naturally, she wasn't looking forward to it. She's giving me the look (with her goggles on.)

Lasering is actually a pretty painless process. With some numbing gel and the gum being cauterized as you go, it was over in minutes and didn't seem to bother Daisy much.

It still doesn't seem like much, but it was enough to put a bracket on there. 

Dr. Jeff said Daisy shouldn't have pain from the lasering. And she didn't. From the lasering. However, a small tooth being suddenly yanked down out of its comfortable home is another matter. Poor Daisy had pain for weeks as that tooth was slowly shifted. (We've really had some awful teeth experiences over the years.) I think she is doing better now. This was an important step on the road to getting braces off. Too bad it also had to be a painful one.