Meet The Staff

Marie joined Tonka Smiles as Office Manager in November 2018. Marie has been working in the dental field since 2007 and worked in the medical field as Admin/Front Desk and in the real estate industry as a Realtor prior to that. She lives in the western suburbs and enjoys hiking, biking, yoga, dancing, music and spending time with family and friends.
Working with patients and helping to provide a relaxing, trusting experience are a number one priority for Marie. She also enjoys helping to coordinate the day to day operations of the practice, to provide a peaceful, smooth operating atmosphere for both patients and employees alike.

Emily is one of our Scheduling Coordinators and a LDA at Tonka Smiles. She graduated from Minnesota School of Business in 2001 and has been in the dental field ever since. She enjoys being outdoors, gardening, kayaking and spending time with her family and friends.

 

Brittanie — Brittanie joined the Tonka Smiles Front Office team in November 2017. She is one of our patient coordinators. She was born and raised in Baldwin, Wisconsin. She attended Argosy University for Dental Hygiene and graduated in 2013.

She enjoys spending time with her family and friends. Brittanie also enjoys going to the gym, taking her dog for walks, spending time at the cabin, fishing and traveling.

 

Marilyn — Marilyn has practiced dental hygiene since 1975 and has been with Tonka Smiles since 1990. The most enjoyable part of her job is establishing relationships with her patients and having great co-workers to spend her days with. Helping people feel comfortable and continue to take care of their smiles is always gratifying.

Marilyn recently moved to Plymouth and she enjoys walking the paths with her dog Spruce. Marilyn enjoys playing cards, watching movies, reading, and spending time with family and friends. She has two grown children; Tyler who lives in Denver and Ivy who lives in St. Louis Park.

Jan — Jan grew up in the Hopkins/Minnetonka area and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1983. In 1986 Jan joined Tonka Smiles and has been here ever since. The best part of her job is caring for and getting to know her wonderful patients.

Outside of Dental Hygiene, she and her husband enjoy skiing, golfing, and biking.

Peggy — Peggy received her BA from the University of Minnesota Duluth and her Dental Hygiene degree from Normandale Community College in 1997. She has been a valued member of Tonka Smiles since 1998. Peggy loves visiting with patients and hearing their stories while helping them achieve optimal dental health.

Her interests include family time, travel, biking, jazzercise, movies, and reading.

Amy — Amy started at Tonka Smiles right out of Dental Hygiene school in 2002. Her amazing patients and co-workers are what makes her job at Tonka Smiles so enjoyable.

She lives in Delano with her husband Kaj and three amazing children Maddison, Levi, and Logan.

Julie — Julie graduated from the U of M in 1981. She joined our team in 1996 having previously worked in a specialty perio practice for 15 years. She loves coming to work each day and providing quality care for her patients alongside an awesome team.

In her spare time Julie enjoys hiking, biking, curling, and reading. Her favorite things is spending time with her family and friends. She and her husband Doug live in Minnetonka and they have three grown children; Megan (JD), Kylie, and Kevin and one grand-daughter Amelie.

Amy — Amy graduated from Lakeland Medical/Dental Academy in 1980. She started working for Dr. Ronald Axel and Dr. Tim Bergstedt over 30 years ago. She has continued to work at this practice until it evolved into Tonka Smiles. Amy enjoys working with a terrific staff as well as having fun with patients and building lasting relationships with them.

Outside of work, Amy’s interests include: playing volleyball, biking, baking, spending time with her nieces and nephews and traveling with her husband. Amy resides in Eden Prairie with her husband Jim.

Chrissy — Chrissy graduated from dental assisting school in 2013 and has been assisting for three years. She is originally from Hawaii and she currently lives in Maple Grove. Before attending dental assisting school, Chrissy was a nursing assistant for four years and has always loved working with patients. What she loves most about her job is helping improve people’s smiles and confidence.

Chrissy has three daughters; Nicole, Courtney, and Elissia and a springer puppy named Chewy. She enjoys cooking, shopping, running 5ks, spending time with family and friends, fishing, going to the beach, and camping.

Kara — Kara graduated from St. Cloud Technical and Community College in 2017 as a Certified & Licensed Dental Assistant. She joined Tonka Smiles in May 2019.

Outside of dental assisting, she and her husband enjoy hunting, fishing, trapping, traveling and mountain biking.