By definition, an abscess is puss-filled tissue within the body. The two most common abscess types in the mouth are periodontal abscesses (gum abscess) and endodontic abscess (tooth abscesses).  Both types of abscesses are caused by bacterial growth and the body’s inflammatory response to fighting these bacteria. Tissue inflammation at the site of infection is [...]

Breathing is something we don’t often think about, yet it's an essential body function. We can control our breathing to some extent when we're awake, but not when we're asleep; our inner brain takes over this role. Our sleeping hours are when breathing problems can seriously affect our teeth. There are a host of tooth-related [...]

When I do examinations, I often use the term “leaking” to describe the condition of old silver-amalgam fillings to my patients. What leaking means in this case is that the seal between the tooth and the filling material has been lost, at least to some degree. When amalgam (silver filling material) is first placed into [...]

A cracked tooth is one of the most common problems I see in my practice on a daily basis. So, how do you know if your tooth is cracked? Most people assume a cracked tooth will hurt, and they'd be correct…sometimes. Yes, some teeth that develop cracks do hurt, and they typically hurt for a [...]

Most of us at some point have noticed someone with a dark tooth like the image below, or perhaps your own tooth looks similar to this one. What causes one tooth to darken like this? Most often it’s because the nerve within the tooth is losing its blood supply, creating a “dead nerve”—what dentists refer [...]