See the full list of this year’s Top Dentists
Saving Smiles One Tooth at a Time
Imagine you’re suffering from gum disease, which affects 60 percent of adults aged 65 and older. You go into your dentist’s office, anxious about the possibility of losing your teeth and needing dentures. Instead, you’re offered a solution that can heal the tissue in your mouth and allow you to keep your natural teeth. It sounds like science fiction, but regenerative dentistry—which, according to the Journal of Stem Cell Research, stimulates the body’s innate healing mechanisms to repair or replace damaged or diseased oral tissues—is real, and dentists hope the practice will become more accessible to patients in the near future.
It’s one of the advancements Dr. Hema Menon, a periodontist at Menon Periodontics and Implants in West St. Paul, is most excited about. “We are using growth factors and stem cells to regenerate bone and even treat gums around the teeth,” says Menon. Other innovative techniques being used by some in the field of periodontics include laser therapy for treating periodontal disease and inflammation, she adds, as well as computer-guided surgery used alongside cone-beam technology, a type of 3D imaging, to reduce complications and better predict outcomes of implants.
Menon, who began her career in periodontics 15 years ago, pursued dentistry for the ability to combine her interests in science, engineering, and art. After graduating dental school and practicing as a general dentist for three years in India, she relocated to the United States, where she completed her residency in periodontics.
“As a periodontist, my primary focus is to save teeth affected by periodontal disease and prevent progression. I love the surgical aspect of it, the ability to save teeth both surgically and nonsurgically. Then, if people lose their teeth, you’re able to replace them with implants,” says Menon, noting that periodontics requires a multidisciplinary approach. “In order to do any treatment on a tooth, a dentist needs to find out whether the tooth is periodontally stable or not, so the ability to work so closely with other specialties is professionally gratifying for me.”
Menon is also passionate about educating patients on the connection between periodontal health and overall health. The American Academy of Periodontology states several studies have shown a link between periodontal disease and other systemic diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s. “Educating patients about the importance of their oral health and motivating them to prioritize it goes a long way,” Menon says. “I love to see my patients in their 80s and 90s walk in for routine periodontal maintenance with their natural teeth.”
For patients who struggle with periodontal issues, seeing a dentist can feel especially anxiety-inducing or embarrassing, but Menon strives to make every patient comfortable. “Nobody is here to judge them for what was not done in the past,” she says. “The moment we try to calm them down and tell them we are here to help, that brings down their anxiety. The ability to make somebody smile better is what I love the most in my profession.”
See the Top Dentist Hall of Fame
Creating Healthy Dental Habits
Dr. Mitchell Loeb decided he would become a dentist in middle school. Growing up in Kansas with two parents in the medical field, he admired the connections they had with their patients. “I decided that I wanted to work with my hands, and I ultimately have a very deep desire to care for people, so dentistry seemed like a perfect fit,” says Loeb.
When it came to choosing a specialty, Loeb pursued two fields that don’t often go hand in hand: prosthodontics and pediatric dentistry. “They are very different specialties. Prosthodontics is replacing missing teeth with dentures and implants, and generally thought of in more of a geriatric population,” he says. “Then, pediatrics is obviously the other end of the spectrum with younger populations. That love for people is really evident in both my specialties.”
Since acquiring his practice, Kid Grins in Edina, a year ago, Loeb primarily focuses on pediatric dentistry. When trying to establish rapport with kids, only seeing them every six months can be a challenge, but Loeb does his best to take advantage of the time he has them in the chair to get them more comfortable with going to the dentist. “Relating to kids who have either never been to the dentist or are super nervous to come to the dentist is a challenge,” he says. “One of the main reasons I went into pediatrics was to work through some of those anxieties.”
To achieve this, Loeb spends time getting to know each patient before starting a cleaning or procedure, talking to them about sports or pets and playing games like guessing their favorite color. “I will never push a kiddo to a point that they’re not comfortable,” says Loeb. “Relating to them and getting to know them prior to the most invasive part [of looking at their teeth] paves the way for a successful interaction. What’s fun is, in six months, they’re excited to come in again.”
Orthodontia is another specialty that commonly comes into play for pediatric patients, and Loeb is especially excited about advancements that allow for more space to be created in the mouth without removing teeth. “Now the idea is, Let’s gain space at a younger age with interceptive orthodontics,” like Invisalign’s removable palatal expander, he says, which, unlike a traditional expander, doesn’t have to be cemented in place and turned with a key.
Even with promising advancements, “there’s nothing that replaces brushing really well and flossing,” says Loeb of establishing good dental hygiene early on to avoid problems later in life. “Keeping it foundationally simple is the easiest thing in pediatric dentistry. The baby teeth are a practice set, and if there’s a lot of work on the practice set, sometimes there’s not a lot of work that needs to be done on the adult set.”
Impacting Young People’s Smiles and Lives
As a young girl growing up in Nairobi, Kenya, Dr. Angela Wandera was surrounded by people who inspired her path into dentistry: her parents, who instilled the values of hard work and discipline; a family friend who exposed Wandera to the field through his dental practice; and the head of the University of Nairobi dental school—a woman, which was unusual for the time. “All of these things were very encouraging and shed dentistry in a great light,” says Wandera. “We don’t talk about role models enough these days, and the impact they can have on young people’s lives.”
More than three decades into her career, Wandera has become one of those role models to her young patients. After completing dental school and practicing for three years in her home country, Wandera relocated to the United States to pursue pediatric dentistry and orthodontic residencies at the University of Minnesota. The complementary specialties “came naturally to me, and I love that [pediatric dentistry] embraces all aspects of dentistry,” says Wandera. “Often, when we’re working, it feels like we’re not working. I know it’s because of the kids. We’re literally giving kids their smiles, and being a part of that journey with them is what I love most about the field.”
In addition to the patients she’s been seeing at her private practice in Eden Prairie since 2004, Wandera helps treat kids around the globe. She recently returned from a mission trip to Kenya, where she and five other dentists spent a week working on patients from an impoverished community north of Nairobi. “It whet my appetite to do more of that,” says Wandera, who was the only pediatric dentist on the trip. “They were so grateful for the help we gave and everything we did for them. Just like my patients here, they may say we help them, but in a way, they help us more. What they do in our hearts, how they affect us, and what they enable us to do beyond that, I feel, is of more impact than what we can have on them.”
Wandera is optimistic about advancements like regenerative dentistry and smart health devices—think dental implants that provide feedback on the environment of the mouth, similar to how a continuous glucose monitor tracks blood sugar levels for diabetics—but no matter how technology impacts the future of dentistry, excellent patient care will always be the top priority for Wandera.
“We can talk about the teeth and the tissues, but they all belong to someone,” she says. “Even more important than the procedures we do on the teeth are how they affect a person, and so being of service to our patients and their families is really one of the most gratifying things that we experience, hands down. There’s no way I can thank my patients enough.”
The 2025 Top Dentists List: The Process
See the full list of this year’s Top Dentists
Oral health can affect not only how we feel and function on the inside but also how confidently we face the world outside. No wonder we attach such importance to choosing the right professional for everything from routine checkups to specialized care and services. The following list contains approximately 10 percent of active dentists in the 10-county metro area. Dentists pass through a multistep process before their names appear here.
As you can imagine, research is essential. We started by asking Twin Cities dentists to nominate other dentists they consider to be exceptional in the field—peers they would consult if they were seeking care. From there, we grouped candidates into specialties and evaluated myriad factors, including (but not limited to) peer recognition, professional achievement, and disciplinary history. Dentists who amassed the highest scores from each grouping were invited to serve on a blue-ribbon panel to evaluate the other candidates. At the end of this process, we selected Mpls.St.Paul Magazine’s 2025 Top Dentists, picking only dentists who had acquired the highest point totals from the surveys, research, and blue-ribbon panel review. (Dentists with a * symbol by their entries are ones who offer cosmetic dentistry procedures.)
Of course, no list is perfect. Many local dentists who provide excellent care may have missed this year’s list. We also cannot guarantee that all dentists listed here are available for new patient visits. However, if you’re looking for exceptional dentists who have earned the confidence and high regard of their peers, you can start your search here.
In addition to our local list, this year’s class of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine Top Dentists will join a prestigious group of colleagues, Super Dentists®, from areas around the country. That full list appears at superdentists.com.
Finally, it’s important to note that there is a strict separation between our list and the advertising that appears in this publication. Advertising has no bearing on the names found here. For more information on research and methodology, please go to superdentists.com.
© MSP Communications 2025 Super Dentists® is a registered trademark of MSP Communications. All rights reserved. Disclaimer: The information presented is not medical advice, nor is Super Dentists a dental care referral service. We strive to maintain a high degree of accuracy in the information provided. We make no claim, promise, or guarantee about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained in the directory. Selecting a dental care provider is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertising. Super Dentists is the name of a publication, not a title or moniker conferred upon individual dentists. No representation is made that the quality of services provided by the dentists listed will be greater than that of other licensed dentists, and past results do not guarantee future success. Super Dentists is an independent publisher that has developed its own selection methodology; it is not affiliated with any federal, state, or regulatory body. Self-designated practice specialties listed in Super Dentists do not imply “recognition” or “endorsement” of any dental specialty certification board, or that the dentist has been trained or has special competence to practice in that area. List research concluded November 4, 2024.
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