BRIGHTENING HOMETOWN SMILES

Three-year-old Penelope skips to the playroom in the Wynn family’s Lake Forest home and plunks her pretend First Aid kit on the table. Little sister Chloe, toddling like a downy-headed duckling, follows right behind. Within minutes, a tiny plush kitten and ailing plush puppy with a cone around its neck have received lots of care. Turn the clock backward to see their mom, Dr. Heather Hruskocy, in her early years, and you’d have witnessed much the same.

“Yes!” laughs Hruskocy, who recently opened her own dental practice, The Smile Loft, fulfilling a lifelong dream. “My mom was a nurse and my Dad is an anesthesiologist, so my interest in medicine was sparked at a very young age.”

Eldest of four siblings, Hruskocy attended the School of St. Mary and Lake Forest High School where she excelled in science. From there, she went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree (DMD) from Southern Illinois University’s School of Dental Medicine. In spending her first college summer working with her dad at Lutheran General Hospital, she was intrigued by the stories from patients at the hospital and the stories he would share about the operating room.

This sparked the flame of interest that would lead her to explore all health care fields throughout her schooling, including working at multiple dental offices. Ultimately, Hruskocy chose dentistry for its mix of science, medicine, and artistry. The field also gave talented practitioners the chance at becoming a business owner, which appealed to her.

That she would launch her own new practice within weeks of birthing her second child and buying a house in Lake Forest sounded impossible, but believing the opportunity was right for her family, Hruskocy did it.

“It just made sense for so many reasons,” she says. “The great schools, safety, proximity to the city, and my familiarity with the community I grew up in … all of that, plus, having found the perfect space for my office. But it was a very stressful year!

Hruskocy signed paperwork for The Smile Loft construction/lease/loan in February 2022 and Chloe was born March 28. Three days later, her family closed on their home. The Smile Loft was officially open to see patients November 1.

She says none of it would have been possible without the support of her husband, Doug, a risk systems manager at Kirkland & Ellis law firm in Chicago who she describes as very “go with the flow.”

“I basically told him I was pregnant, wanted to move to Lake Forest, and wanted to open my own dental office all in one sentence,” Hruskocy adds. “He just looked at me and said, ‘let’s do it!’”

Now into her second year at The Smile Loft, she says many of her clients remember her from her childhood in Lake Forest, which adds to their comfort level in seeing a new dentist.

“Fear of going to the dentist can come from so many things; a traumatic childhood dental experience, for example, or a fear of needles,” explains Hruskocy, who works to assuage those fears and other common situations, including embarrassment about lack of dental hygiene. “Almost weekly I will have a mom come in and get emotional because she hasn’t had any time to take care of her teeth. I can relate to these patients and never judge their situation because I have been there myself. Taking things slow and spending the time to address a patients’ concerns thoughtfully can really help.”

As a general dentistry office offering family and cosmetic dentistry, The Smile Loft primarily sees adult patients, with a growing number of families with children coming in. About 50 percent of the procedures are cosmetic.

“My absolute favorite thing is to make someone comfortable with their smile!” says Hruskocy. “There are so many people walking around who hesitate to ask if something can be fixed, not realizing how simple some cosmetic procedures can be. I had two patients just this week tell me they never smile because they don’t like their teeth and by the end of their appointments, they left smiling from ear to ear—which is exactly how it should be!”

For more information on Dr. Heather Hruskocy’s general and cosmetic dentistry, visit lfsmileloft.com.