Clara and the Oral Surgeon

I won't go into all the details. I'd probably get some of them wrong, anyway. But the short version is that  for 14 months or so Clara has had ONE permanent tooth in the upper front of her mouth. But the rest of her upper front teeth were impacted up in the gums because of an extra permanent incisor, which was blocking the rest of the teeth. (That's my simplified and probably somewhat incorrect version.)

Pre-surgery. (Picture swiped from Kelsey's blog.)

Yesterday she went in for oral surgery to remove that pesky extra tooth and open up some "windows" in her gums to encourage the other teeth to make their appearances. There's no doubt that she'll also need braces, once the teeth all emerge.

Dan and I were on pins and needles all morning, and were keeping the prayer line busy between God and us on her behalf. God is good, and Clara is brave, and the oral surgeon was skilled. Kelsey couldn't believe how worry-free Clara was as she headed in for the surgery. And now that it's over, she's enjoying a week-long diet of smoothies, ice cream, pudding, etc., which she considers quite a treat. The plans are that she will return to school on Monday.

Post-surgery (This one also swiped from Kelsey.)