COMMUNITY DENTISTRY

If you are walking down Scranton Avenue in Lake Bluff and pass the post office, you will be surprised to see a new dental office there. How long has it been there? Well, the dental office has been there for more than 50 years, but Dr. Linda R. Salmon of Lake Bluff Dental Care has given the dental office many reasons to notice it.

Dr. Linda R. Salmon has been a dentist for over 28 years, and she has been in dentistry for 40 years. She believes that things that are meant to be will happen. Her life in dentistry began at age 15 at a dental appointment when her dentist recruited her to work in their office as a dental assistant and receptionist. After graduating from UIC College of Dentistry in 1996, she worked in Oak Park and then in the Sauganash area of Chicago for more than 22 years. In 2023 she left her Chicago office to open her new office in downtown Lake Bluff. Her practice, Lake Bluff Dental Care, is located right in the center of the historic downtown area at 32 East Scranton Avenue.

Dr. Salmon has always prided herself on being a Chicago girl, having grown up there and lived there her whole life. She moved with her family from Chicago to Glenview for better schools for her children in 2002. About 10 years ago, some of her friends from Glenview moved to Lake Forest, so she and her husband began spending most of their social time in the Lake Forest and Lake Bluff areas. Since then, Dr. Salmon and her husband Jeff, have grown very fond of the Lake Bluff and Lake Forest areas, and have become involved in the local communities. In 2021, she and her husband attended Citadel’s 7th Annual Gala—Villa Gatsby.

Since then, Dr. Salmon has been in attendance and helped at many Citadel Theater fundraisers. She is involved in the Lake Forest and Lake Bluff Chamber of Commerce, and she has participated in Lake Bluff Park District’s Trunk or Treat the past 2 years. She was part of Lake Bluff’s Annual 4th of July Parade where she passed out lots of goodies and was greeted by many new faces and many of her patients from her new practice.

In August 2024, she celebrated the one-year anniversary of the opening of Lake Bluff Dental Care with a ribbon cutting ceremony in partnership with the Lake Forest and Lake Bluff Chamber of Commerce. The fun celebration included, to her amazement, some former patients from her Chicago practice who traveled to Lake Bluff to congratulate her and let her know they followed her to her new location and will be seeking an appointment with her soon. She has been honored to have many of her patients from Chicago follow her to Lake Bluff and she feels thankful that many of the contacts she has made in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff are now patients, too.

“It is an honor and a solid compliment of your qualities as a dentist and as a person when your patients follow you to you the ends of the earth to continue seeking your care,” says Dr. Salmon. A relationship between a dentist and a patient is like no other business and client/patient relationship. Patients want to know that you have amazing dental skills, that you can chat with them as if you have known them your whole life, and that you can help them feel at ease in difficult or uncomfortable dental procedures.

Dentists must be very well rounded in so many areas to be successful in dentistry and business. They must be artists and make sure they can match colors, shapes, spacing. They need to know medications that may interfere in the welfare of their patients. They need to know how to best care for their patients, both regarding their teeth and their overall health. They need to be able to run a business and hire staff to support them. They need to have fine motor skills and keep themselves in the best physical shape to be able to endure the physically demanding dental procedures, they need to be able to problem solve, and most importantly, they need to have patience with their patients.

Dr. Salmon has all the above and more. She continues to keep herself in good physical shape by eating well and working out regularly. She can be found boxing, running, powerwalking, rock climbing, hiking, and more. She keeps her dental skills up to date with continuing education and advanced training in many areas. She can take care of her patients in many areas of dentistry, including laser biopsy, place and restore implants, place limited orthodontic brackets, and she is Invisalign certified.

After 40 years in dentistry, you might think one would get bored or tired, but not Dr. Salmon. She likes to keep it interesting and add new procedures to her office to offer her patients the latest technologies and treatments. She also keeps active in many dental societies and has a position on the Alumni Board at University of Illinois College of Dentistry. The UIC College of Dentistry recently opened its Inclusive Care Clinic to help patients with disabilities and it is expanding its off-site free dental clinic. The board was instrumental in providing feedback on the clinic design while it was being built and made a list of needed improvements to help the school. Dr. Salmon donates her own time and money to the UIC College of Dentistry because she appreciates how they reach a variety of patients with their on-site and off-site clinics. Dr. Salmon has been involved with many organizations in the past, but she says, “You can give a little to many organizations and feel like you are contributing, or you can focus your attention on one organization and be sure you are making a difference.”

Dr. Salmon believes her move north was meant to be and has immersed herself in everything Lake Bluff and Lake Forest. She is planning on moving her home to the area in the next few years. In the meantime, look for Dr. Salmon around the area taking a class at the Gorton Center, attending chamber events, shopping at Fresh Market or Source and Style, eating at Le Colonial, Inovasi, or other great eateries, or walking around the beautiful downtown area and the beach on her lunch break. Dr. Salmon says, “If you happen to walk past my office, I invite you to stop in and say ‘hi’ to me and my warm dental team.”

Lake Bluff Dental Care is located at 32 East Scranton Avenue in Lake Bluff. For more information, visit lakebluffdentalcare.net or call 847-234-0557.