About Progressive Dental

History | Mission & Vision | Philosophy | Our Staff

Progressive Dental History

On October 1, 1991, Dr. Sonny Spera began what was to be Progressive Dental, PLLC. The first office was located at 1080 Conklin Road in Conklin, NY. This had been the office of Dr. Milton Lawney until his retirement. Dr. Spera and a half a dozen dedicated assistants, hygienists and office personnel staffed the small office for two and a half years. In that time, Dr. Spera added more office hours, additional staff and upgraded much of the equipment.

On April 4, 1994, the current Conklin Office at 703 Conklin Road was opened. This office was built to accommodate the larger staff and provide state-of-the-art dental design. In 1996, after an office naming contest, our patients input gave us “Progressive Dental” and thus Progressive Dental, PLLC was born.

In 1998, Dr. Loveland retired and joined our practice in Conklin and in September 1998 we merged with Dr. Bernie Collins at 333 Hooper Road. We built our new office at 565 Hooper Road in Endwell, NY, which we opened on February 1, 1999.

We continued to expand Progressive Dental. In April 2004, Dr. DeRensis retired and Progressive Dental of Norwich, PLLC was born. We continued to work out of the office at 89 N. Broad Street. In October 2004 we opened our new office at 101 S. Broad Street in Norwich, NY.

Our Mission

Progressive Dental, PLLC’s mission is to provide patients with exceptional dental service through superior care, service, and education in a friendly, comfortable, responsive environment. We want to be known for caring more for your oral health than you do!
Our mission is to provide a pleasant environment in which we care about the employees as individuals first, and as employees second. We will continue to be as responsive to their needs as we are to the needs of our patients, without any compromise in patient care.
It is also our intent to have good old-fashion fun!

Our Vision

Progressive Dental PLLC’s vision is to continue learning new technologies, materials, and expanding the scope of our services. We want to be known as the friendly dental office that is committed to quality care and building a better community.

Philosophy of Our Dental Practice

We believe that preventive dentistry is the cornerstone of our health centered practice. Early recognition and treatment intervention will optimize the long-term oral health benefits for all of our patients. Quality dentistry, together with proper home care will ensure the best of dental health and reduce the amount of dentistry needed in your lifetime. Our practice commits and prides itself on providing you the highest quality of dental services by:

Maintaining a well educated staff utilizing state-of-the-art equipment and sterilizing methods.
Selecting the most appropriate methods of dentistry which keep you comfortable.
Relieving patient’s pain THAT SAME DAY.
Listening to our patients’ chief concern, which will allow us to formulate a proper diagnosis and custom treatment plan.
Giving you a written estimate prior to starting any treatment.
Referring to a specialist as needed.
Practicing in a manner consistent with the code of ethics, keeping accurate records and complying with all laws.
Offering a variety of appointment times at three convenient locations to meet your schedule.
Providing you with an on-call Doctor, ALWAYS.
Treating the underprivileged in our communities on our annual Doctors with a Heart Day.

Our Staff

Every member of the staff at Progressive Dental, PLLC is committed to providing each patient with a professional and pleasant experience.

Our dental assistants are able to provide high quality care thanks to extensive training and continuing education.
Our registered dental hygienists are required to be fully licensed and complete continuing education courses. Many have also received the NYS certification, which enables them to administer local anesthesia, or “Novocain” to increase patient comfort.
Our team’s commitment to staying current with improvements and developments within our field allows us to give our patients a higher level of care. Continuing education is an essential component in our ability to provide modern, cutting edge dental services.
Our team is CPR certified, and trained in infection control (sterilization procedures) under the guidelines of the Center for Disease Control.

Our doctors, hygienists, assistants and administrative team will strive to make your visit with us an enjoyable one. Our goal is to provide each person the highest quality care in modern facilities, with the greatest comfort possible. We are proud of our team’s commitment to outstanding patient care and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Lab Staff

Kevin Johnson
Kevin is the Progressive Dental, PLLC laboratory coordinator. He joined our staff in May of 2003, but has been a lab technician for 25 years. Kevin served in the USAF for 21 years as a dental lab technician, and is a Nationally Certified Dental Lab Technologist. He has fulfilled advanced education classes in the following areas: dentures, ceramics, crown and bridge, orthodontics, and dental implants.

Kevin’s responsibilities in the lab consist of preparing dentures (from set up to completion), removable partial dentures, and metal preparations for porcelain. He also specializes in the porcelain application of bridge and crowns, all ceramic wax/press finish and the fabrication of orthodontic appliances.

He was born and raised in Suffolk, England and now resides in Owego, NY with his wife and two children.

Dixie Kucharski

Dixie is one of our dental lab technicians. She joined our lab in May of 2002 and since then has completed training in plaster work, denture base plates, clear retainers, and metal finishing.

Dixie currently performs wax ups for crown and bridgework and metal finishing. She was born and raised in the Albany area. She acquired a Bachelor of Science degree from Buffalo State University and a Masters of Education degree from Binghamton University.

She currently resides in Maine, NY with her husband and two children.

Rose Garrett

Rose joined our staff in September of 2007 and is a Certified Medical Assistant. Currently in our lab, Rose is our laboratory ceramist. She manufactures bleaching trays and clear retainers, performs casting and metal finishing and applies opaque to metal. Rose has an Associate’s degree in Applied Science and has experience working in plastic surgery, ENT and maxillofacial.

She was born and raised in Apalachin, NY.

Heather Green

Heather Green joined our staff in May of 2002 as an administrative assistant and recently joined the lab in September of 2008. In our lab, Heather manages all set up and plaster work, manufactures bleaching trays and clear retainers, constructs dentures and partial set-ups and performs denture repairs. Heather has an Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice from Broome Community College.

Born and raised in Forest Lake, PA she now lives in Endicott, NY with her husband and two beautiful daughters.

Tom Costello

Tom joined our staff in February of 2002. He has been a lab technician for 24 years and has been doing porcelain for 20 years. Tom received an Associates degree in Dental Technology. Through the years he has completed continuing education classes in porcelain crowns and bridges.

Tom was born and raised in Elmira, NY and now lives there with his wife and two children.