Now on Mineola Avenue: Roslyn Family Dental, where you can get a detailed tour of your mouth in a space that may or may not also be a boutique and art gallery.
The new practice is the second managed by Azariy Mikhaylov where his sister, Dr. Yelena Mikhaylova, and their mother, Dr. Alla Hart, are dentists. It has arrived after two years of planning.
“I think it’s going to be the perfect practice,” Mikhaylov said.
They designed it to be the opposite of those they describe as “mills,” with long wait times and short appointments.
At Roslyn Family Dental, dentists spend quality time – typically a whole hour – with each patient, which includes taking photos of individual teeth to show the patients what they’re seeing.
“I give them like a tour of their mouth,” Mikhaylova said.
An hour appointment should be the standard for all dentists, she said.
The siblings talk about Roslyn Family Dental like their own child.
They designed the sunlit waiting room to be like a boutique. The books on the table, which include “The Beatles Anthology” and “Humans of New York,” are Mikhaylova’s.
The long hallway that lines the six dental laboratories is filled with original local artwork that they plan on rotating monthly.
Then there’s the selfie wall, stocked with props for posing for Instagram photos.
And everyone who walks by the office’s glass exterior has the joy of seeing a sketch cutout of a stern Christopher Walken on the door encouraging “WALK-ENS.”
“We’re youthful here,” Mikhaylova said, pointing out the impossible-to-miss accessory that she said is her favorite part of the place.
Their family immigrated to the United States from Russian in 1992 as Jewish religious refugees. Mikhaylov was 9 and Mikhaylova was 4.
Hart had been a dentist in Russia. She enrolled in the NYU College of Dentistry and graduated in 1996.
In 2003, she bought a practice in Bayside.
Mikhaylova began working there at 15 as a dental assistant. Now, 15 years later, she has patients who have seen her grow up before their eyes.
“I was brought to tears because this one patient came in and he was in his 80s and I treated him and he basically said to me ‘Your mom must be so proud of you’ and ‘I knew you’d be a great dentist when I first met you,’” she said. “It’s like you’re treating your family.”
Mikhaylov entered dentistry after his finance career stumbled during the recession and learned the ropes at the Bayside practice as well.
The practice allows him to flex both his dental and business skills. He enjoys the quick decisions and staying on top of the ever-developing technology, he said.
Dentistry turned out to be an ideal career shift from finance. “I love it so much more,” he said.
What do many New Yorkers have in common regarding their teeth?
Grinding, Mikhaylova said.
“When I worked in the city, every single patient needed a mouth guard,” she said.
This is an updated version of the story. A previous version incorrectly spelled Azariy Mikhaylov’s last name Mikhaylova and incorrectly called him a doctor.
