We have been taking Matilda to a dentist and talking about teeth concerns since they started popping up yellow. We have shared on the blog before why her teeth are so yellow, but during her last visit a bit more of the story was revealed.
As you can see in the pictures, there is a distinct line on some of her teeth from unhealthy, yellow, and misshapen, to white, healthy, and regular. Excited, curious, and eager Matilda's dentist grabbed his book, thumbed through a few pages, and said, "I know Matilda had her transplant when she was young, but was it around the 2 month mark?" He continued to show us the typical timeline of each tooth's growth and explained how quickly her teeth began to recover once her liver transplant occurred.
Even more interesting, he looked again at the first few teeth that came in, and concluded that he believes the damage started to Matilda's liver started when she was three months in utero. Which, as it turns out, is right when neonatal hemochromatosis takes hold.
We still don't have all the evidence to make a defined statement that that is what caused Matilda's liver failure, but it has brought a little more understanding as to what her body went through in order to survive. It also gives us hope that her permanent teeth will come in just fine - white, healthy, and beautiful.
