Meet Dr Koroneos, the Young Greek Dentist in Queens, Treating Patients Like Family

QUEENS — Meet Yannis Koroneos, the Queens-based dentist from Astoria and owner of New York Legacy Dentistry and Vital Dental of Bayside.

Growing up, Yannis Koroneos wasn’t sure what he wanted to be when he got older. With a mother who is a pulmonary physician, and a father who’s a chemical engineer, however, the idea of pursuing research and many years of study was something not so foreign to him. Nevertheless, “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, and I actually had no desire to be a dentist when I was a kid,” Dr. Koroneos told TNH. Today, the 36-year-old is pursuing his new-found passion and love for…teeth, alongside his wife and co-business partner, Stephanie Alvarez Koroneos, who run two dental offices – NY Legacy Dentistry and Vital Dental of Bayside, which focus on person-centered care.

In an interview with The National Herald, Yannis Koroneos spoke about his career journey. “I was pre-med in college, but I actually ended up getting a job out of school, working in dental research in Cambridge, MA, at The Forsyth Institute. When I was there, I started learning about teeth, and I was doing research on periodontal disease and the mouth-body connection and learning how if you improve the conditions in the mouth, you can get good outcomes for the rest of the body.At that moment, I decided I actually much prefer dentistry as I found the oral health connection to the rest of the body was fascinating. So, I went for it, and I ended up going to Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston, and I did my dental schooling there.”

After completing his dental studies, Koroneos returned to New York, where he undertook his residency at the Bellevue Hospital, a level one trauma center in Manhattan, and then continued to work in the city for a few years after.
“I then felt that it was time for me to start my own thing, and my wife and I, (who I actually met in dental school)…were presented with an opportunity to run our own business about two years ago, as we found two offices that were up for sale because the dentists wanted to retire…and we purchased them both, and now work together between the two offices,” Koroneos said.

“One of the dentists owned this dentistry for over 30 years, and we basically came in and renovated the whole space, and it became NY Legacy Dentistry. I named it ‘legacy’ because I am carrying on his legacy with my wife.”

The second practice the Koroneos couple own and have been operating since 2023 is Vital Dental of Bayside, which was also taken over from a former renowned dentist in the Greek-American community.

When asked about what sets his dentistry apart from any others in Queens, Dr. Koroneos said it comes down to their quality of care and services, as well as their passion for what they do. “Me and my wife just love what we do, and I think if you want to be successful in this field, you have to really love it,” Koroneos explained.

“There’s a lot of people that go into it now, especially the younger generation that came after me, and they’re not interested in owning an office anymore, and they’re not interested in dealing with the headaches of staffing, payroll, liabilities, and managing patients…they want to be under someone. In my experience though, as someone that knows what they like, knows what they want to do, knows what they’re good at, I don’t want to take direction from anyone else. It’s my office – I’m my own boss, and we can do whatever we want.”

Koroneos, who is known for being the youngest Greek-speaking dentist in Astoria, said he loves catering to the community he once grew up in, and providing them with quality services and genuine care.“By being a dentist who knows the people, who knows the culture, who knows the neighborhood, it makes a big difference. We welcome people of all ages and all cultures, and we want to make them feel comfortable,” he said. “We stand out as we take the time to listen to our patients’ needs, and explain to them what we think they need, why they need it, and help them understand what’s going on.”

He added, “I just love connecting with people, especially my patients. I love to meet them and get to know them, and then they become like our family – and that’s the difference between a practice like ours versus someone else’s – we want to take care of them and take our time to get to know them and build that trust with them,” he said.

Koroneos then described his experience working alongside his wife, Dr. Stephanie Alvarez. “It’s great, it’s really wonderful. We have the same treatment philosophies, we have the same sort of mentality on how to do things, and we have that same shared love and passion for what we do.” He emphasized how they’re success stems from their concept of ‘person-centered’ care. “We look at a person’s feelings, their past experiences, and really get to know them, and not just view them as a customer, but as a person… I look at it from the lens of ‘what  would I do if this was my mother, my sister, my brother, my niece, my nephew?’ – and that’s how we treat people here.”

NY Legacy Dentistry is located at 31-79 30th Street in Astoria, and Vital Dental of Bayside is located at 39-09 210th Street in Bayside, Queens.