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"Great things start with a smile!" Dr Rosenblat

Thoughts for you, from my blog...



Wisdom teeth...I could take 'em or leave 'em....

When a patient comes in to see me at my office in Oakville, with jaw pain, it is often necessary to take an "X-ray" or "radiograph"

The kind you see above is great because it shows all the teeth.  It is not detailed enough to diagnose cavities but I can see many pathologies and the developmental stages of the various teeth. This young lady is 15 and has no room for her wisdom teeth.  The teeth on the extreme right and left in the image are not in the mouth yet and you may notice the roots are not formed yet.  As they form the teeth try to come in to the mouth. Since there is no room, they are pressing on the teeth already there causing pain.  These are "impacted wisdom teeth". Now what is interesting here is where the arrow is pointing.  This is an abnormality that we found that doesn't hurt and I would never know was there unless we took the x-ray. While this mass may very well be benign, I have  referred her to have this evaluated and deal with it if need be. My oral surgeon will do that and remove the impacted wisdom teeth.

Now impacted wisdom teeth can often be painless, but if no, the symptoms can include; jaw pain, headaches, inability to open your mouth normally, swelling in the gums at the back of the mouth, as well as a bad odour or taste in the mouth.

So what happens if you leave a painless impacted wisdom tooth to sit quietly in the jaw.  Often nothing.  They may just sit there and cause no problems.  But if they are pressing against another tooth, they can cause the tooth they press against to start to disolve away and if bad enough, the wisdom tooth and the tooth it pushes on would be lost.  So sometimes if there is no room, wisdom teeth are removed proactively because of problems they can cause ( and if I see there is no room for them to come into the mouth).  It is also important to think long term too because it is easier to remove a wisdom tooth in a younger person since the bone is softer and healing is better in younger people.

Routine dental exams with x-rays can find things you never knew were there. Call us and we'll be glad to have a look around! 

Dr Steven Rosenblat

Great things start with a smile!  at TheOakvilleDentist.com

905 827-0301



Snoring...could be the tip of the iceberg!









Dr Steven Rosenblat




Why we bug you to brush when you have braces...

Lots of kids are really good at keeping their teeth clean when they have braces and let me tell you it's not easy! But it is really worth the effort.  When food and dental plaque is not removed meticulously around braces the decay process starts.  Even if it does not progress to full cavities ( holes in the teeth) early decay makes the enamel white and blotchy where it is decalcifiying the enamel. This is the result of an acid attack- the bacteria in dental plaque produce acids that decalcify the enamel.  Where the metal brackets of the braces are attached to the teeth the enamel is undamaged so you get the typical look seen in here the photo.  Oh, and the gums react to the plaque too with fiery red inflammation and bleeding called Gingivitis.After spending the time and effort not to mention the cost to straighten teeth it can be heartbreaking to remove a child's braces and see what should be a perfect smile!

For this reason we highly recommend more frequent dental visits to help keep a childs teeth clean during orthodontic treatment

Dr Steven Rosenblat

Great things start with a smile!



If I Need a Crown...does that mean I need a root canal too?

In a word, no.

This is another one of those common questions I get asked all the time.  When I tell a patient who has a broken down tooth they need a crown to preserve, I am asked about root canal treatment before the crown. People are relieved to hear that a tooth does not need root canal treatment before "crowning" as long as the tooth isTheOakvilleDentist.com healthy.  Generally crowns are to repair broken down or weakend teeth. What gets people confused is that often, after a root canal, a crown is often recommended.  

What's the difference?  

Well root canal treatment results in a weakened tooth, one that can fracture sometimes resulting in tooth loss.  A crown or onlay after root canal will hold the tooth together and allow it to be used for chewing normally. Most of the time a tooth needs root canal treatment because it has either a large cavity or large filling that results in the tooth becoming infected. To treat the nerve in the tooth we end up weakening the tooth further. You may hear stories from people you know who say they had root canal and lost their tooth.  I'll bet 90% of the time it is because they didn't follow their dentists recommendation to crown the tooth afterwards, and it fractures as it it has become structurally weaker.

So now you know the difference.

Great things start with a smile!

Dr Steven Rosenblat



Go ahead, stick your tongue out at the dentist and make him smile!

I always know my regular patients like me when I sit down to do a routine examination, a checkup. How?  They stick out their tongues! Quite a lot if not most stick their tongues out at me as soon as I ask them to open their mouths for a look.  You see, I have them "trained". They know the first thing I do is look for oral cancer and stick your tongue out at theoakvilledentist.comone of the places I need to look is under their tongues. I have to hold and lift it up and look. I love it when they stick out their tongues because they are paying attention and know how important this is.  This is one of the most important parts of a dental examination: looking at the soft tissues ( not just teeth) for any signs of disease.  I need to look for anything out of the ordinary from cankers to growths and decide if there is an anomoly, and if there is, is it a passing harmless one or something more ominous.  Looking at the teeth comes afterwards in my dental exams.

So stick out your tongue at your dentist and make him smile!