Profile: Arlington’s Newest Orthodontist Makes Braces Fun

Virginia Center for Orthodontics
1600 Wilson Blvd, Ste. 810
Tel: 703-774-3070
Email: [email protected]

Rarely have the words “orthodontist” and “fun” been used side by side, but the newest orthodontist in Arlington specializes in more than just fixing smiles, she creates them.

Which explains the monkeys in the office suite.

“We have a really fun atmosphere,” said Dr. Crissy Markova from her office at Virginia Center for Orthodontics at 1600 Wilson Blvd., near both Courthouse and Rosslyn Metro stations. “Our patients travel to us from all over the United States and the world–they’re always coming and going–so we give them our office mascot, a stuffed monkey named Bob, that they can take to travel with them.”

Don’t think the monkeys are just to keep kids smiling: Grownup patients getting Invisalign have been known to adopt them as well.

You would think monkeys and lively music in the waiting room would be enough to set a business apart, but Dr. Markova, who opened the practice just last June, said “the biggest differentiating factor from other practices is that we are really convenient. We’re here up until 7 o’clock at night to be really accommodating. When a practice closes at 4:30 or 5, you have to take off work or school, and we want to help avoid that.”

After completing her Doctorate of Dental Medicine from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Dr. Markova, a Michigan native, relocated to Northern Virginia when she was a resident at Washington Hospital Center and, as a resident team leader, at Children’s National Medical Center Cleft Lip and Palate Craniofacial Clinic.

“I discovered I really loved the area,” she said, and that’s when she decided to hang her shingle in Arlington, with high-rise views of the city and Georgetown across the river. It took a year-and-a-half to build a state-of-the-art the office from the ground up–“with all the bells and whistles,” she said. “There is nothing in the field of orthodontics that we don’t have in the office.”

Her favorite new gadget, if you can even call something this high-tech a gadget, is a 3D scanner that eliminates the need to make uncomfortable impressions or molds of teeth. “We can do 3D modeling of anybody’s teeth,” she said. “And I get to geek out on the 3D scanner.” And this comes from someone who owns two patents for orthodontic bracket designs.

Besides stuffed monkeys and cutting-edge technology, Markova prides her practice on community involvement. “It’s a really big focus for us,” she said. The Arlington Soccer Association, Discovery Elementary, Gunston Career Day, Girls on the Run, and Arlington Little League are some of the events and organizations she’s supported.

The practice accommodates an expanded list of insurance carriers as well as a zero-percent financing plan for braces and Invisalign. Find Dr. Crissy Markova’s Virginia Center for Orthodontics on Facebook, on the web or by calling 703-774-3070.

The preceding was a sponsored local business profile written by Buzz McClain for ARLnow.com.