Dr. Valerie Barba

OUR JAWS GET a pretty constant workout between all the talking, chewing, and yawning we do, but those simple activities become more complicated for those with temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD or TMJ). There’s a small, fibrous disk that serves as a cushion between the ball and socket of the joint. If it shifts out of place […]

2 OUT OF EVERY 5 KIDS have at least one cavity by the time they finish elementary school, and the main reason is sugar. Bacteria Love Sugar As Much As We Do Harmful bacteria living on the surfaces of our teeth love eating the leftover sugar after we enjoy a sweet treat or drink. Then they

UNLESS THE DENTIST is an active TikTok user, it’s not a good idea to get dental health advice from social media. We’ve noticed a lot of dangerous DIY ideas popping up so let’s take a minute to nip them in the bud. 1. “Healthy Soda” No soda is truly healthy for teeth, as the bubbles in

40% OF KIDS WILL have at least one cavity by the time they start school, usually due to poor oral hygiene and eating and drinking lots of sugary things. It’s critical to teach kids good oral health habits early on and to help them brush their teeth until they are able to do it themselves, but

FOR AS LONG AS there have been people, there has been tooth decay, but people in past civilizations didn’t have as many answers about what caused their tooth problems as we do now. That led to some very strange beliefs about dental health. One of the most common was the “tooth worm.” Ancient Well-Intentioned Errors As

“MOUTH-BREATHER” HAS made the rounds as an insult in recent years, but breathing primarily through the mouth instead of the nose can actually have some pretty negative effects on health, including oral health. Mouth-breathing should only be done as an emergency backup, not the main way to breathe. The Nose Is a Built-In Air Filter The

WE CAN SEE a hint of the state of dental health in Shakespeare’s England from a sonnet in which he describes his lady love’s reeking breath. The lines “black contagious breath” and “his breath stinks with eating toasted cheese” make it into two of the history plays. This was likely because dental health in England was

BY THEIR ELEVENTH birthday, 2 in 5 kids will have at least one cavity, but parents can do a lot to keep their child’s teeth healthy. One major cavity culprit is sugary drinks, and that includes fruit juice. The worst way to drink it is by sipping it throughout the day, which can cause extensive tooth

WE TEND TO IMAGINE that people from earlier eras must’ve had worse teeth than we do because they didn’t have things like modern dentistry, orthodontics, and root canal treatment, but what dental problems were they dealing with and how did they protect their teeth? Gum Disease Through History We have evidence that ancient Native Americans —

ANYONE WHO REGULARLY swims might have noticed that your teeth are more sensitive after climbing out of the pool. That’s not just your imagination. Doing a lot of swimming actually can take a toll on our teeth if we aren’t careful. Pool Chlorine Can Cause “Swimmer’s Calculus” To most people, the word “calculus” calls forth scary