Keeping in touch by blog!

I want to say thank you for spending a few minutes and checking out my blog. 

This is going to be a great way for me to keep you informed about what's new at Oakdale Dental.  You'll find stories about todays dentistry and how it can make your life better and healthier, and sometimes some random thoughts I hope you find interesting. 

If you are already one of our patients you've no doubt noticed we've got a fresh new look and name.  We've renamed our practice formerly Family Dental Associates to Oakdale Dental! 

For those of you who I have not had the pleasure to meet yet, glad to have here and feel free to drop by and pay us a visit at Oakdale Dental.

So, come back once in a while...I try to post regularly and have some interesting things for you to check out and maybe a story or two to tell.


Search

 

 

Thoughts for you, from my blog...

 

Friday
Jul232010

Dental Implants & Crowns can improve a smile...

I've written before about dark gumlines and tooth roots and I see quite a few patients with this problem.  It has also been a popular topic here on this site too so I thought I would post another case.four new all ceramic crowns and one dental implantold failed crowns

Cindy ( not her real name of course) wanted to improve her smile by replacing four crowns on her upper front teeth.  You can see the two on your left have darkness showing through her gums.  The tooth indicated by the red arrow had to be removed.  I replaced this tooth with a dental implant and porcelain crown.  This helped esthetically as the roots of the two center teeth on the left were black from old failed dentistry and replacing one with an implant helped remove some of the darkness, allowing for pinker gums.  Due to the blackness of the root under the gums I couldn't make  much improvement in the tooth on the far left.  See the after image.  With a small bit of trimming we could have perfected the length of her left implant tooth but Cindy was happy with the teeth as you see them and the smile she now has.

( If you want to see what the teeth looked like after I removed the old crowns, just click on the left image.)

Friday
Jul232010

How long after my filling do I have to wait until I can eat?

This is a question I hear every day.  The white fillings that you get today are composite resins (very hard and wear resistant “plastic / ceramic” mixtures).  You may notice that when these fillings are made in your mouth, we use a use a special light to cure (set) the composite.  This makes the fillings as hard as they are going to be, right away. 

When the old silver amalgam fillings are placed (not often these days), they are soft for at least one hour.  So, we use to have to tell patients to wait one hour before chewing as the fillings were soft and would fracture if used too soon.  This does not happen with today’s composite resins- you can chew immediately.  The real question is, do you want to?  While the fillings are ready to go, you are most probably still anaesthetized ( ie frozen) and may not be able to feel your lips and tongue.  Eating while you are frozen can cause injury or burns if you like hot coffee.

So a word of advice, if your dental appointment is at lunchtime, maybe a light meal before will keep you from having to worry about when you can eat.



Wednesday
Jul072010

Summer holidays....

Well the scorching hot summer days we've all been waiting for have arrived in this neck of the woods.  Time to plan time away from dentistry and being with family and friends instead. 

So to that end, I'll be off from July 23 until August 9th.  Duing these two weeks one of our team will be available for calls to book appointments or answer questions from 9 am until 1pm.

Hope you all have time to enjoy some time off this summer too, it doesn't last long.

Great things start with a smile! ( including summer vacation)

Dr. Rosenblat

Monday
Jun212010

Sterilization and Infection control in a dental office.

This past year has been another busy year for continuing education.  Most programs start to wind down for the summer until next September the new "school year" starts again. 

The final formal lecture I attended for this season was last Friday, the subject was Infection control and Steriliztion standards in the dental office.  This is something that goes on behind the scenes in every dental office.  Most patients are more aware of it these days because they  see us wearing masks and gloves as well as wrapping various items in plastic.  This lecture reviewed the latest standards in care.  Most of you might already know that we use sterilizers ( we call them "autoclaves" ) in the office to sterilize everything we can.  But how do dentists know  they actually work and kill the bacteria and virus's that could infect a patient or staff memeber?  Along with chemical strips that tell us that the sterilizing conditions have occured in the autoclave, we place live harmless bacterial cultures inside and expose them to the sterilizing conditions.  We then culture them for 24 hours and see if they grow.  If not, we've been successful.  If not, action is taken!  Today,these spore tests are done each and every day that the office sees patients.

Being a great summer day and a Friday as well, it was great to see the lecture room at the Mississauga Convention Center was packed!

 

 

Wednesday
Jun022010

In the morning I often have sore jaws and sometimes a headache...

Headaches and muscle soreness are conditions that are often related to how your teeth and jaws work together.  85% of people show signs of tooth grinding (bruxism) or clenching.  These are non functional uses of your teeth and jaws (that overstress you chewing muscles) and often happen only at night.  In today’s world there is a great deal of stress and anxiety and this, as well as caffeine use and some medications can all lead to these destructive and painful muscle activities ( dentists call this ``parafunction`` ).  The result is tension, headaches and excessive wear and destruction of your teeth.  This may show up as flattening of your teeth or chipping as well as grooves or notches in the side of your teeth near the gums ( ``abfraction``).  

The most common way to treat muscle pain caused by clenching or grinding is to have a “nightguard” made.  This is a custom fitted acrylic appliance usually worn at night that takes the stress off your jaw joints and will safely prevent tooth wear.  There are different types of  Nightguards for different purposes and which one I recommend depends on a patient’s particular problem and tolerances.   They are designed specifically for the way your teeth fit together. 

Every persons teeth fit together and function in unique ways and this is why the simple grinding appliance available at drugstores cannot accomplish the same protection and pain relief. 

 I have found that this kind of conservative therapy has helped many of my patients reduce or eliminate their muscle and headache pain.