Meet the team
Eleven people work here. These four are the ones you are most likely to deal with directly, and none of them are going anywhere.
-
Dr. Marisa Elwood, DDS
Owner and General Dentist
Dr. Elwood grew up in Corning and returned to the Southern Tier after finishing her residency in Rochester. She bought the practice in 2016 from a dentist who had run it for thirty-one years, and she has kept the parts that worked: long appointment times, no upselling, and a front desk that knows patients by name. She handles most of the restorative and implant work in the practice.
-
Dr. Aaron Petrisko, DMD
Associate Dentist
Dr. Petrisko joined in 2021 and sees a large share of the practice’s younger patients. He has additional training in behaviour guidance for anxious children and is the person the team asks for when a first visit is not going smoothly. He also runs the practice’s emergency slots on Thursday evenings.
-
Rhonda Skerritt, RDH
Lead Dental Hygienist
Rhonda has cleaned teeth in this building longer than either dentist has owned it, coming up on twenty-four years. She leads the hygiene department, runs the practice’s periodontal monitoring programme, and is unfailingly honest about whether you are actually flossing.
-
Denise Vargo
Practice Manager
Denise handles insurance, billing and scheduling. If you have a question about what something will cost before you agree to it, she is the person to ask, and she would genuinely rather answer it beforehand than after.
The rest of the team
Behind those four are three more hygienists, two dental assistants and a second front-desk coordinator. Several of them have been here more than a decade, which in dentistry is unusual and is not an accident: this practice pays for continuing education, closes at two on Fridays, and does not run the kind of production targets that burn people out.
We mention it because staff turnover is something patients feel even when they cannot name it. Seeing the same hygienist for eight years means somebody actually remembers that your lower left always needs extra numbing.
Book with any of them
If you would prefer a particular dentist or hygienist, say so when you book and we will match you up.