Dental dynasty
Family of dentists return to SmileCon
At the ADA annual meeting in New Orleans in 2002 — back before it was called SmileCon — a 2-year-old Suzanna Marbach and 7-year-old Mark Anthony Marbach, D.D.S., played on the floor of the exhibit hall.
The Marbach siblings would go booth to booth at ADA meetings, collecting trinkets, playing at the dental lab booth their dad, Mark Marbach, manned and following their mom, Mary E. Bajork-Marbach, D.D.S., after she returned from continuing education courses. Dr. Bajork-Marbach purchased some green dental chairs at one of the conventions, and it was memorable enough for Ms. Marbach that she drew them as one of her “favorite things” on an elementary school worksheet.
Flash forward 22 years and the siblings are back at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. But this time, they’re adults and interacting with exhibitors as a dentist and dental student. Dr. Marbach joined his mom in her practice, Kingwood Caring Gentle Dentistry, in Kingwood, Texas, and Ms. Marbach is attending dental school at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Attending the Texas dental school is a family tradition: both mom and brother are alums.
Dr. Marbach graduated in 2020, and Ms. Marbach is set to graduate in 2027. She’s hoping to join the family practice, but her brother teases that “we’ll have to vet her first.”
They’ve both helped out at the practice since they were kids; Ms. Marbach working as a dental assistant and Dr. Marbach learning from his mom. Many of the patients have known Dr. Marbach since he was a kid.
“Our kids have been in dentistry ever since they were born,” Mr. Marbach said.
