Dr. Katie ToThe Wellness Dentist, CEO and Founder of Center for Wellness Dentistry and Wellness Dentist Institute.

6 Leaking Crowns, Hidden Decay, and Mercury Underneath

2 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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In this clinical commentary, Dr. Katie To explains a patient’s oral health assessment that began with comprehensive saliva and pathogen testing, which revealed a high load of high‑risk and moderate‑risk oral pathogens. Visual examination showed severely swollen, bleeding gums indicating intense inflammation. The dentist discovered six leaking dental crowns that concealed extensive decay beneath them. Upon crown removal, heavy dark decay was visible, and underneath the crowns were mercury‑containing amalgam fillings. The combination of leaking crowns, hidden decay, and mercury exposure underscores the importance of thorough diagnostic testing and careful evaluation of existing restorations.

Chapters

The picture at the bottom, for all of our patients, we always do different types of oral saliva and pathogen testing as well to see what's in the mouth. For her, she had a lot of high-risk, moderate-risk pathogens. And we can tell because we can see it, her gums are really swollen. What we found, she had 6 leaking crowns with decay and amalgam fillings underneath. When we remove the crowns, you can see on that left picture, Really heavy decay, really dark. You can see how puffy her gums are around there, just really angry. And she just kept bleeding so much because anytime we would touch it, it would bleed just because of the fact that there's so much inflammation there. And then when we removed her crowns, you can see mercury fillings underneath that as well.