Tag Archives: dentist

Karan’s big adventure – part 2

Guest post by Adita Divecha, Karan’s mother

Karan has an extra tooth which has come up on his palate next to a molar on the right side. An appointment had already been taken with the dentist, who happens to be my husband Rajiv’s cousin, for the day after we arrived.We arrived at the clinic in time and were made to sit in the waiting room. Karan was very quiet and kept looking around fearfully as I guess he could sense we were at a doctors clinic. It always smells different in a clinic and he always seems to know when we’re at a hospital or clinic.

Finally, we were ushered in. One look at the chair and he refused to sit on it. There was no whining though. He shook hands with his uncle ,the dentist, and gave him a big smile. He opened his mouth slowly after being coaxed a few times, all the while standing and holding one of my hands tightly. This had to be done a few times but Karan did it without whining. This was a great relief. Anyway, the doctor said that as the extra tooth was not hurting him in any way there was no need to remove it .There were no other problems like cavities so no cause for worry. Only his teeth are too sharp so as a preventive measure they should be rounded or blunted. This will have to be done in the next few days under anaesthesia.

Rajiv’s cousin sister Kaajal who lives in the US has also come down to Mumbai with her husband and two kids. They came over to meet us at our home. Karan just waved at them when told to look and say hi and went and sat on the sofa playing with his ball.That evening all of us went over to Rajiv’s sister Madhavi’s home for dinner. She has a dog, a beagle, called Toto. When Karan heard him barking he was a little taken aback and kept staring at him. Toto started jumping and licking my hand while I petted him. Karan had gone and sat on the sofa and suddenly Toto jumped on him and started licking his face. All of us kept looking at Karan anxiously but there was no need for concern. Karan was laughing loudly and letting Toto lick him. Then he started petting him, pulling his ears and touching his tail, putting his hand in Toto’s mouth, clearly unafraid. And Toto was letting him do this without growling. It was quite amazing. And then Toto just sits next to Karan at times and Karan just touches his back and at times they both ignore each other. But Karan is not afraid of Toto and neither is Toto afraid of Karan. It is really amazing how animals understand children like Karan.

Teething troubles with Karan

Guest post by Adita Divecha, Karan’s mother

One of the problems I face is that Karan does not like to open his mouth when you ask him to. This was quite a problem when his milk teeth were falling – some have still not fallen. When he feels the tooth is loose, he tries to pull it off with his fingers and keeps on fiddling with it. He makes his face, clothes, the sofa and the bedsheets all bloody. He does not allow me to check his mouth and holds it tightly shut. And he does not cry.

Sometimes he has put pencils or crayons in his mouth and its quite difficult to take them out. I have been bitten a few times while trying to take things out of his mouth. Right now, he is getting a new molar but the old one has not yet fallen. He was biting down on the right side of his mouth and grimacing so I thought he had hurt himself there or perhaps had a blister. After coaxing him for many days to open his mouth slightly wider, I have found that he is getting a new tooth except it is coming out in his palate on the right side next to the molar which has not yet fallen.

Something will have to be done to ease his discomfort. He is of course not going to sit in a dentist’s clinic and open his mouth to let the dentist check and do something about it. I have been told that children like Karan are usually taken to a hospital. Their teeth are checked and x-rayed and then worked on usually under anaesthesia as they refuse to sit in the chair, open their mouths and keep it open for the dentist to work on. I am sure that other kids also don’t like going to the dentist but with special kids like Karan it is difficult and different.