diff --git a/editor/libeditor/html/nsHTMLEditor.cpp b/editor/libeditor/html/nsHTMLEditor.cpp
index 4930c446486..5e821a7c41e 100644
--- a/editor/libeditor/html/nsHTMLEditor.cpp
+++ b/editor/libeditor/html/nsHTMLEditor.cpp
@@ -4868,10 +4868,21 @@ nsHTMLEditor::IsEmptyNode( nsIDOMNode *aNode,
                            bool aSafeToAskFrames)
 {
   nsCOMPtr<nsINode> node = do_QueryInterface(aNode);
-  NS_ENSURE_TRUE(node && outIsEmptyNode, NS_ERROR_NULL_POINTER);
+  return IsEmptyNode(node, outIsEmptyNode, aSingleBRDoesntCount,
+                     aListOrCellNotEmpty, aSafeToAskFrames);
+}
+
+nsresult
+nsHTMLEditor::IsEmptyNode(nsINode* aNode,
+                          bool* outIsEmptyNode,
+                          bool aSingleBRDoesntCount,
+                          bool aListOrCellNotEmpty,
+                          bool aSafeToAskFrames)
+{
+  NS_ENSURE_TRUE(aNode && outIsEmptyNode, NS_ERROR_NULL_POINTER);
   *outIsEmptyNode = true;
   bool seenBR = false;
-  return IsEmptyNodeImpl(node, outIsEmptyNode, aSingleBRDoesntCount,
+  return IsEmptyNodeImpl(aNode, outIsEmptyNode, aSingleBRDoesntCount,
                          aListOrCellNotEmpty, aSafeToAskFrames, &seenBR);
 }
 
diff --git a/editor/libeditor/html/nsHTMLEditor.h b/editor/libeditor/html/nsHTMLEditor.h
index d88248702b4..1b1362c06f7 100644
--- a/editor/libeditor/html/nsHTMLEditor.h
+++ b/editor/libeditor/html/nsHTMLEditor.h
@@ -395,6 +395,10 @@ public:
                        bool aMozBRDoesntCount = false,
                        bool aListOrCellNotEmpty = false,
                        bool aSafeToAskFrames = false);
+  nsresult IsEmptyNode(nsINode* aNode, bool* outIsEmptyBlock,
+                       bool aMozBRDoesntCount = false,
+                       bool aListOrCellNotEmpty = false,
+                       bool aSafeToAskFrames = false);
   nsresult IsEmptyNodeImpl(nsINode* aNode,
                            bool *outIsEmptyBlock, 
                            bool aMozBRDoesntCount,
diff --git a/editor/libeditor/html/nsTableEditor.cpp b/editor/libeditor/html/nsTableEditor.cpp
index a724b9bb452..eadacc0f2c8 100644
--- a/editor/libeditor/html/nsTableEditor.cpp
+++ b/editor/libeditor/html/nsTableEditor.cpp
@@ -62,7 +62,9 @@
 #include "nsHTMLEditUtils.h"
 #include "nsLayoutErrors.h"
 
+#include "mozilla/dom/Element.h"
 
+using namespace mozilla;
 
 /***************************************************************************
  * stack based helper class for restoring selection after table edit
@@ -3441,31 +3443,28 @@ nsHTMLEditor::AllCellsInColumnSelected(nsIDOMElement *aTable, PRInt32 aColIndex,
 bool 
 nsHTMLEditor::IsEmptyCell(nsIDOMElement *aCell)
 {
-  nsCOMPtr<nsIDOMNode> cellChild;
+  nsCOMPtr<dom::Element> cell = do_QueryInterface(aCell);
 
   // Check if target only contains empty text node or <br>
-  nsresult res = aCell->GetFirstChild(getter_AddRefs(cellChild));
-  NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(res, false);
-
-  if (cellChild)
-  {
-    nsCOMPtr<nsIDOMNode> nextChild;
-    res = cellChild->GetNextSibling(getter_AddRefs(nextChild));
-    NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(res, false);
-    if (!nextChild)
-    {
-      // We insert a single break into a cell by default
-      //   to have some place to locate a cursor -- it is dispensable
-      bool isEmpty = nsTextEditUtils::IsBreak(cellChild);
-      // Or check if no real content
-      if (!isEmpty)
-      {
-        res = IsEmptyNode(cellChild, &isEmpty, false, false);
-        NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(res, false);
-      }
-
-      return isEmpty;
-    }
+  nsCOMPtr<nsINode> cellChild = cell->GetFirstChild();
+  if (!cellChild) {
+    return false;
   }
-  return false;
+
+  nsCOMPtr<nsINode> nextChild = cellChild->GetNextSibling();
+  if (nextChild) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  // We insert a single break into a cell by default
+  //   to have some place to locate a cursor -- it is dispensable
+  if (cellChild->IsElement() && cellChild->AsElement()->IsHTML(nsGkAtoms::br)) {
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  bool isEmpty;
+  // Or check if no real content
+  nsresult rv = IsEmptyNode(cellChild, &isEmpty, false, false);
+  NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, false);
+  return isEmpty;
 }