teeth care 'coz i care

here's something i read from 3dpregnancy.parentsconnect.com (my favorite site about pregnancy) for someone who's 12 weeks pregnant:

"...poor dental care can lead to a variety of problems such as pregnancy-related gingivitis and periodontal disease, neither of which sound like any fun at all. Plus, poor dental health during pregnancy has been associated with premature and low-birth-weight babies."

it's already my 25th week. yes, i waited that long. can you imagine? why did it take me that long? well...

the truth is, even before i found out i was pregnant, i've been trying to find a dental clinic willing and brave enough to remove the braces on my lower teeth without a letter from my original ortho. nobody dared. chickens.

so i had to stick it out with my braces until i could figure out a way to get an authorization from my original ortho -- which was really impossible since i don't know where he is now and i don't have his new contact info.

i got pregnant and had to move back to manila.

a few days ago, i noticed my gums on the lower part were receding. and that got me worried. hey, i don't want to lose my teeth at this age. no way!

i was waiting for the perfect time to go to the phil. air force hospital and have my braces removed since i got it there in the first place (never mind who my ortho was...they'd have to remove it one way or another...they removed my brother's braces). too bad my new am shift didn't permit it. all the while i've been thinking, something has to be done stat!

to make things worse, today i heard one trainee saying to another that her dentist said her gums were receding and that she had to do something to prevent them from eventually falling off. red alert! red alert! no freakin' way.

at least there's a good side to my eavesdropping: i got the dentist's name - dr. dominic sevilla. and he's covered by maxicare. so i went there today.

while sitting on the dental chair, dr. sevilla was "interviewing" me. we soon discovered that we were living in a "small world." and this was a good thing.

he said my braces had to be removed asap, it's just that it wasn't his specialty. so he called in dr. janice jose, his partner - the ortho, to do it. i was hesitant of course coz i didn't want to spend again. my prenatal check ups were already expensive as it is. but the "small world" part was a big help. if you know what i mean.

dr. jose removed my braces and cleaned my gums. i feel so free! wheeeee! dr. sevilla did one last check and asked me to come back next week. he mentioned that maintenance is important especially since i'm pregnant. i'm booked for 3pm, wednesday. and whatdyaknow, he didn't say that my lower gums were receding!

finally! i got rid of my braces and had my teeth/gums cleaned. it's an amazing feeling. i'm really glad i was eavesdropping.

if you have maxicare and you need to get a dental check-up, i suggest you go to dr. sevilla, he'll take care of you. dr. jose wasn't bad either, she was really nice and thoughtful. with these two, fear of dental check-ups is but a thing of the past. *big grin*

cheers!
~oohmomma

dr. dominic sevilla / dr. janice jose

1410 medical plaza bldg