Dental Clues

As I mentioned in my last post we made a trek to the pediatric dentist to have some teeth cleaned and bring home bags of goodies. We have a great pediatric dental practice here and one of our friends happens to be one of the dentists. I had called ahead of time to talk with them about the possibility of narrowing down Eden's age from dental x-rays. Something I had done some reading about.

We have become increasingly suspicious that she is older than what her assigned birth date says she is. So many things made me think she was closer to 3 1/2 years of age instead of just turning 3 at the end of May. I know her birth date was an estimate so there could easily be some discrepancies. Here is how the x-rays help.

When a child is about 6 months old their secondary teeth begin to form. It takes 3 years for the crown of the secondary teeth to completely grow. After the crown is complete the root begins to form and that takes another 3 years. So when a child is 6 1/2 years of age their secondary teeth are finished forming. Now, there can be some wiggle room but generally across the board this is pretty standard.

As we were talking in the waiting room he said to me, "Before looking at x-rays, if I had to guess her age by looking in her mouth and assessing her I would say she is at least 3 1/2 years old." But he didn't want to assume anything so we went ahead and did the x-rays. He placed her pictures next to Tristan's and started explaining them to me. He showed me how Tristan's secondary teeth were completely formed and how the root was beginning to grow. He will be 4 in July so this made sense. By the time you are 3 1/2 years of age the roots would typically begin growing.

We then looked at Eden's. Sure enough. Her secondary teeth were also completely formed and roots were starting to grow. Her x-ray's looked almost identical to Tristan's! It was kind of crazy looking at the similarity!

So...based on the pictures of her teeth she is most definitely 3 1/2 years old and probably closer to turning 4! And here we will celebrating her 3rd birthday in 2 weeks! The dilemma is now what?

We are going in for her well check in a little over a week so we will have a good chat with the pediatrician. Our hunch is to not change her birth date at this point. There isn't really a reason to change it at this point unless we felt like it would be beneficial in when she begins school. But if I am homeschooling her for the first year or two it wouldn't really make a huge difference. I can start her a little earlier if I want. Where it becomes tricky is a little later - when puberty hits! If she is quite a bit older than other girls in her class she may begin developing earlier and that can be a bit traumatic if you are feeling like a spectacle.

Does anyone have any thoughts? We want to do what is best for her and in the long run if she is 9 months older than what we originally thought it isn't going to have a huge impact in her adult life. But she may feel some effects later in life if during her formative years she felt out of place.

It just feels nice having things confirmed for us. So much of who she is told us she was over 3 years old already. Knowing that our hunch was more than likely correct feels good. I feel like my mothering instinct has lead me correctly yet again.