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When Joseph came home from Ethiopia at 22 months, he had 14 teeth. He seemed to be right on track as far as teeth except that he didn't yet have lower canines. We figured, though, that they would be popping through at any time. Well . . . a year later, when they still hadn't come in we started to wonder what was going on. We had heard rumors from some online adoption communities of cultural practices in Ethiopia of removing these teeth in infants, but we were still thinking that they would just be coming in late.
Fortunately, we were able to visit with Joseph's birthmother again on our last trip, so we had the opportunity to learn what happened!
And what we found out was VERY interesting. We explained to his sweet, sweet birthmother that some of Joseph's teeth never erupted and we asked her if she knew of any reason why. She said that when he was about 8 months old that they removed his canines!! We asked how this was performed and what we got through the translator was that some sort of "hook" was used. She then preceded to tell us that the teeth were removed because this prevents diarrhea in the infant period.
And there we had it - our suspicions were confirmed. . . .
Further research on the subject has revealed that this is actually a common practice in a lot of areas of Africa, particularly in the region of Ethiopia where Joseph is from. Tooth eruption is sometimes associated with the onset of diarrhea, leading many mothers to assume a causal relationship. They, therefore, feel that the removal of these teeth will prevent infantile diarrhea. The procedure is most often performed on children from 4-18 months of age (depending on what source you look at), typically without anesthesia, and with a sharp instrument such as a hot needle or knife. It is usually done by a traditional practitioner known as yetirs awlakiy (tooth extractor). As for long term consequences of this procedure, it appears that he may have a higher chance of needing orthodontic work, but we plan to discuss this further with our dentist as well.
For my friends in the Ethiopian adoption community, here are a few links to articles that discuss more about this procedure.
Dental injuries due to African traditional therapies for diarrhea
Tooth follicle extirpation and uvulectomy
Clinical Topics — Canine Extraction
Interesting. Our ET daughter is 7 years old, and has her canines, but they are very sharp, as if they may have been filed. Also, she has had a uvulectomy, which makes my stomach turn to think about that process.
ReplyDeletewow, I never heard this discussed while in Ethiopia...very interesting.
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