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Dee Gramprey
Office Manager
 Dee's first job at Avis Dentistry was sterilizing hand pieces, covering for her husband Jim's grandmother (his mother also worked for Dr. Harry Avis). But soon Dr. Ronnie Avis asked her to help with insurance, which was great because she could make her own hours and be home for her daughter Tara.
Now office manager for more than 25 years, she coordinates patient care, facilitates financial arrangements and oversees the smooth coordination of office staff, procedures and systems. In addition, she handles logistics for Dr. Avis’s PRD seminars.
Dee is a volunteer at University Hospice, visiting patients weekly in nursing homes and in the hospital, which she finds very rewarding. She is active in her community. But for Dee, family comes before everything, she loves to cook and host the family holiday dinners. Dee and Tara now live in the same building, and are each other’s best friend, an arrangement that provides plenty of opportunity to baby sit for her grandson, James. Dee says, “I feel very fortunate to be part of a high quality, caring and compassionate dental team.”
Contact Dee: dgramprey@avisdds.com
Annette Curitore
Director of First Impressions
Annette is likely the first person you'll be in touch with on any visit to Avis Dentistry. As Director of First Impressions, she handles the scheduling of appointments, a job that requires her to know pretty much everything that goes on at the practice; she has to understand dental procedures and technology so she can explain what to expect and what your options will be. Annette enjoys dealing with people, putting them at ease, and playing a part in the transformation she sees in patients, especially those having restoration work done.
When she's not meeting and greeting at the front desk, Annette enjoys going to the theater and visiting museums. Her husband Tom, a retired sanitation worker, builds dollhouses for raffles at hospitals and homes around the area. Their daughter Danielle is a pediatrician, while son Tom Jr. is living "la vida loca" as an aspiring actor in California.
Contact Annette: acuritore@avisdds.com
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Tara Seagriff
Clinical Assistant
 If you still need convincing that this practice is a family, how's this: Tara is the fourth generation of Grampreys to work for three generations of Avises. She started work at 14 on her first day of high school, doing filing. It was a good part-time job in those days, with seven dentists and four hygienists in the office.
After going to hygiene school, Tara found she liked being a dental assistant more, and today she is Victor's clinical assistant for all procedures, doing whatever's necessary to make it possible for him to just go in and do dentistry. Tara prepares the chart, explains what will be done and helps put any fears aside.
Like her mother (and best friend) Dee, Tara loves being a mommy, and enjoys getting outdoors and traveling with husband, Ian (her second best friend) and son, James.
Contact Tara: tseagriff@avisdds.com
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Leah Burns
Hygienist
For Leah, being a dental hygienist has always been a calling: she was treasurer of her school's Dental Hygiene Association her very first year.
Leah was originally hired in July 1987, but discovered two weeks later that she was pregnant with her third daughter, Hillary. She came back on a temporary basis in April 1988. Temporary turned to permanent, and she has never looked back.
Leah approaches each patient with empathy and understanding, and always finds ways to help them overcome any fears and dental-related anxiety. Both Leah and Dawn Christie lecture to schools and community groups on topics ranging from cavity prevention to periodontal maintenance.
Leah and her husband Tommy are huge Yankee fans. As a matter of fact, any prospective boyfriends of their daughters are frisked at her front door and checked for Mets paraphernalia.
Contact Leah: lburns@avisdds.com
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Dawn Christie
Hygienist & Director of Practice Development
 Dawn admits that marketing was hard to learn -- in addition to being a hygienist, she's also Director of Practice Development. Time was when someone gave her a compliment, she'd just get red in the face. Now she turns it into a referral! And although preparing mailings and writing up brochure copy can be a "tooth-grinding experience," she really enjoys figuring out how to help make the practice grow.
Dawn enjoys listening to her patients and getting to know them on a personal level too. She also enjoys learning and strives to be on top of her profession.
Dawn studied karate until she had some ribs broken practicing for a tournament. She made it to Black Belt, but now takes a safer route to staying healthy: pumping iron, playing with her young daughter Ryann and having fun with her husband John. Dawn also enjoys reading, digital photography and swimming.
Contact Dawn: dchristie@avisdds.com
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Kimberly Avis
Marketing & Practice Development
Kimberly is the creative mind behind the Avis dental marketing and practice development programs. She and Dawn work closely together to keep patients and the community aware of Avis developments.
Kim is a devoted mom to her three beautiful daughters. When not in the office, she is involved with numerous community organizations and is often working on several projects at once.
Contact Kim: kavis@avisdds.com
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Violet Milejska
Dental Assistant
 Violet is the newest assistant in the Avis Dentistry office. She found out about this job from her Church, The St. Stanislaw Kostka, where Dr. Avis placed the ad. She was born and raised in Poland, and she is fluent in both Polish and English.
In 2005 she will earn a Bachelors Degree in Graphic Arts from the New York City College of Technology, and plans to continue with a career in dentistry. Violet loves reading, theater and classical music. In her spare time she also loves to draw graphic black & white designs. Violet is very personable and loves to be around and meet all different kinds of people.
Contact Violet: vmilejska@avisdds.com
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Edie O'Brien
Laboratory Technician
 Edie is a pioneer: she was the "first woman tech in dentistry" in the US, and was presented the Gold Medallion at the Hotel New Yorker for her contributions to the field. She's retired three times, but returned for the last time to work with Dr. Ronnie Avis (whom Edie describes as "just aces") in 1994.
Edie got her first job as a dental technician because of her "nice hands.” Overcoming the initial skepticism of 30 male co-workers, she went on to make dentures there for the next 47 years. Today she continues that work at Dr. Avis’s because, as she says, she “just really enjoys dentistry.” She can't stay away.
Edie's poodle Ramona Lisa has won ribbons in dog shows in Bermuda, Canada and Florida. She also enjoys discovering and sharing new recipes (Edie that is, not Ramona Lisa).
Contact Edie: eobrien@avisdds.com
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Rosina Wynn
Laboratory Technician
Rosina has been on the staff at Federico Dental Lab for nearly a dozen years -- before coming to the area, she raised three children and worked in a dental prosthetics lab in South Carolina.
She got into the field because the dentist she went to at the time wasn't really sharing with her what he was doing. Rosina became curious and said to herself, "Let's see what's going on here.... " and began studying dental technology.
She's learned a lot in the 24 years since then, and now handles everything at the lab from casting, making models and opaquing porcelain to scheduling, daily billing and technical instruction at The Center for PRD. It’s a constant learning process that she really enjoys, because she's always making something happen.
Rosina is spending her free time remodeling a house and "creating a home," when she's not hanging out with grandsons Keenel and D-Mari.
Contact Rosina: rwynn@avisdds.com
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Paul Federico, B.S., M.D.T.
Master Laboratory Technician
 Paul started work with Dr. Ronnie Avis in 1972, and remembers Victor as that kid who drove him crazy in the lab downstairs, playing around and sandblasting his golf clubs.
Now he and Victor are partners -- in dentistry, in the Center for PRD and as friends. Since 1987 he and Victor have attended many lectures together. "If one of us is learning something the other doesn't know about, it won't do either of us any good," he says.
Paul is responsible for making the castings, implant restorations, caps and dentures that restore a patient’s oral health. He works closely with Dr. Avis to design, sculpt and color a restoration that not only looks good but works best.
Paul also teaches dentistry in the NYU Graduate Dental Program and the School for Continuing and Professional Studies.
Contact Paul: pfederico@avisdds.com
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