Waterloo Family Dental

From Cleaning visits to root canals and TMJ, Waterloo Family Dental offers everything dental right on Monroe Street. 

The concept of a “filling” is replacing and restoring your tooth structure that is damaged due to decay or fracture with a material. When needed, will replace old, broken ­down amalgam/metal with white fillings (composites) to restore your smile and teeth to a more natural look and feel.

With today’s advancements, we are able to eliminate the dark, black appearance of silver fillings in your teeth with new­ age, state-­of-­the-­art, tooth­-colored resin or porcelain materials.

The “Temporomandibular Joint,” more commonly referred to as the “jaw joint,” assists in the basic opening and closing movements of the jaw. Unfortunately, this joint is a common area for recurring pain. Although conventional wisdom suggests that “popping” sounds in the jaw indicates a TMJ dysfunction, this is not always true. Many times, your jaw is functioning properly even if a “popping” sound is present when chewing or talking.

We offer a TMJ exam that evaluates the joint tissue in the “hinge” of the jaw. Possible problems include swelling, deterioration of the joint tissue or damaged joint tissue (which cushions the jaw bones during the opening and closing movement of the mouth). Common pain relievers and cold compresses can provide temporary relief for most cases of TMJ.

For more serious cases of TMJ, we will recommend alternate treatments. Often, we will suggest using a mouth guard to relieve teeth grinding. In some cases, we will instruct you to use orthodontic appliances or retainers to alleviate discomfort or redirect positioning of the TMJ joint. For the most severe cases of TMJ, we may recommend certain invasive procedures.

Replacing your missing or damaged teeth will benefit not only your appearance but your overall health. Using state-­of-­the-­art technology and updated materials, dentures can now be custom designed to look more natural and feel more comfortable.

It may take some time to adjust to your dentures. Speaking and eating may feel different at first, but these regular activities will resume normally once you are accustomed to your dentures.

Partial Dentures:

Partial dentures are removable appliances that replace missing teeth by attaching via a framework to your natural teeth.

Caring for your removable appliances:

Proper denture care is essential to the durability of your dentures and the overall health of your mouth.

Complete Dentures:

• Brush your dentures daily with a soft­-bristled tooth brush. (Don’t forget to brush your gums and tongue as well.)
• While not being worn, keep your dentures in denture solution and/or water (not hot) to prevent warping.
• Handle with care and keep out of the reach of children and pets
• If your dentures become loose, chip, break or crack, see your dentist.
• Complete dentures are artificial, removable replacements for the natural teeth of the upper or lower jaw or both.
• Upper dentures
• Upper dentures are held in place by a vacuum created between your appliance and the palate of
• your mouth.
• Lower dentures​Lower dentures are horseshoe shaped to accommodate the tongue, and, due to lack of suction, are often held in place by implants placed in the jaw for support.

If you want to have your dentures fit better, below is an informational video on how dental implants can help the problem.

For our practice, the ORTHOPHOS XG 3D® Dental Cone Beam solution offers:

• We use digital as opposed to film which is 75% less radiation.
• A scan of the teeth and jaw (14 seconds) creating a 3­-Dimensional image
• Improved orthodontic planning
• Implant planning
• More certainty during surgery
• Can see some problems that cannot be detected on normal X-Rays

We want our patients to receive the best dental care possible, that’s why we invested in the latest technology in dental diagnostics, the ORTHOPHOS XG 3D® Dental Cone Beam solution.