Dr. Maya Okafor, DDS, FAGD

About Dr. Maya

Dr. Maya Okafor grew up in Linden and still remembers the dentist who handed her a hand mirror and let her see what he was doing. That small gesture turned a scared eight-year-old into a future dentist, and it shaped the way Brightside works today.

After dental school at The Ohio State University, she completed a general practice residency at a busy Cleveland hospital, where she treated patients with complex medical histories. She opened Brightside on North High Street in 2009 and has since earned her Fellowship in the Academy of General Dentistry, a distinction held by fewer than 10% of general dentists.

Dr. Okafor focuses on comprehensive family care, anxious patients and gum health. Outside the office she coaches her daughter's soccer team, gardens badly but enthusiastically and hosts the practice's yearly back-to-school toothbrush drive.

"If you understand what is happening in your mouth, you get to make the decisions. My job is to make that easy."