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24 | March 21, 2019 | the frankfort station life & arts
frankfortstation.com
Frankfort dentist encourages recycling for Earth Day
Nuria Mathog, Editor
At Frankfort Smiles
Dental, the focus is on
clean teeth and green initiatives.
More than a year ago,
Frankfort Smiles Dental
owner Marissa Zoladz
launched an oral health
care product recycling
program at the office,
which allows residents
to drop off used manual
toothbrushes, empty floss
holders and empty toothpaste
tubes. The products
are then recycled into
backpacks for underprivileged
children.
This year, in recognition
of Earth Day, Frankfort
Smiles Dental will host
a special raffle throughout
the month of April.
For every recyclable oral
health care item brought
to the office, located at
301 N. White Street, Suite
BB in Frankfort, residents
will receive a raffle ticket
that they can enter into a
drawing for a $250 Amazon
gift card. To date, the
office has recycled about
400 items.
Dental offices naturally
produce a lot of trash because
of all of the protective
barriers and contaminants
from patients’
saliva, but throughout
the past year, Frankfort
Smiles Dental has made
an effort to implement
Earth-friendly initiatives
in an effort to cut down on
waste, Zoladz said.
“We used to throw out
24 bags of trash a week,
and we’re down to 12
bags of trash a week,”
she said. “It’s still a lot,
but we made some simple
changes like using towels
to dry our hands. We have
an electric hand dryer
in the bathroom now for
patients. We just started
recycling, which helps a
lot. We made some simple
changes, and we’ve really
cut down the waste,
and I love just trying to
spread the world to other
people.”
The office also offers a
pamphlet containing tips
on recycling and going
green for interested patients.
“I’m really into health
and nutrition and natural
dental care products,” Zoladz
said. “I don’t recommend
your typical dental
care products anymore,
like Crest and Colgate;
I’m not into that anymore.
And I think, just naturally,
being into that, you start
realizing the relationship
with the Earth and with
our health and whatnot
and how it’s all intertwined.”
Zoladz said her office
is continually looking for
ways to go green, and she
hopes other dental offices
will begin considering
environmentally-friendly
initiatives of their own.
“I would love to somehow
spread the word to
more dental offices, because
really, the changes
we made were simple,”
she said. “It wasn’t anything
complicated to reduce
our trash in half.
I mean, that’s huge ...
I hope I can spread the
word to [other offices] to
do the same thing.”
In addition to helping
the Earth, Frankfort
Smiles Dental plays an
active role in educating
the community about
dental health. In February,
Children’s Dental
Health Month, the office
gave presentations at local
schools and discussed
topics such as oral health
and the importance of
healthy eating.
Zoladz, a current Mokena
resident, grew up in
Orland Park and attended
Sandburg High School.
She completed dental
school at the University
of Illinois at Chicago and
opened up her practice in
Frankfort two years after
graduating. The office
will celebrate its 10th anniversary
in July.
Her interest and passion
for dentistry started from
an early age, she said.
“When I was a kid, I was
a weird child,” she said,
laughing. “I used to love
going to the dentist when
I was a kid. I don’t know
why, I had a great dentist,
I guess ... I always loved
science and I loved anatomy
and whatnot in school.
And when I had braces, I
thought that was so cool.
So, naturally, I wanted to
go into dentistry.”
For Zoladz, the best
part of being a dentist is
developing relationships
with her patients, whom
she says she always aims
to treat like friends and
family.
“So many people are
afraid of going to the dentist,”
she said. “They have
anxiety about going to the
dentist. So, it’s my goal to
make things as easy and
comfortable as possible.
I love the patient interaction.”
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Marissa Zoladz, owner of Frankfort Smiles Dental, poses next to the recycled oral
health care items patients have dropped off at the office.
Nuria Mathog/22nd Century Media