When dentists take a look at a patient’s smile, they look for all kinds of subtle signs to pick up on the state of their oral health. However, the average person really just looks at a few key things.

One of the main ways most people judge their oral health is through the color of their smile; the whiter their teeth, the better they tend to feel about them. However, the color of your smile isn’t necessary a 1-to-1 corollary to the quality of your teeth, especially if you’ve whitened your teeth artificially in the past. Here’s why that’s the case.

If you’re someone who reads or thinks about your oral health often, gum disease may feel a little bit passe. It’s a fairly common condition, and in many people it’s mild enough that they hardly notice that they have it.

However, the truth is that gum disease is one of the most complex and interesting conditions in all of dentistry. There’s a lot more to the illness than meets the eye—if you’re curious, here are a few things you may not know about it.