The Life in Business: Dr. Joan Greco

“I’m a dental phobic like most of my patients are, I empathize with them,” says Joan Greco, DDS, OMS. It is not just her professional experience, but her experience as a patient that guides her treatment style. An oral and maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Greco specializes in placement of dental implants, wisdom tooth removal, bone grafting, facial trauma, jaw surgery and facial cosmetic procedures such as BOTOX® Cosmetic, face lifts, rhinoplasty and more.

While attending dental school, Dr. Greco worked as a neonatal and pediatric intensive care nurse at the University Health Science Center in San Antonio. It was there that she decided to specialize in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. “I was working in intensive care with babies who were born with a cleft palate and I saw how surgery made a huge difference in their lives.” From San Antonio she went to Emory University in Atlanta. When the dental school closed, it was Dr. Greco’s chance to go to Louisiana State University (Charity Hospital).

While there she found herself yearning for island life. She opened her first office on the Big Island in 1994 and is also on staff at Kona and North Hawai‘i Community Hospitals. Dr. Greco is a past president of the Hawai‘i Island Dental Association, the Hawai‘i Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. ❖