A Journey Full Circle – The Dental Spa Revisited
1980s
1986 Debra Grant created Perioromatherapy: The Original Dental Spa in Boca Raton, FL.
1987 Dr. Harvey Silverman opened the Aesthetic Smile Center in June 1987, providing not only dentistry, but hot oil facials, massages, and a whirlpool.
1990s
1994 London’s The Guardian has identified the Atlanta Center for Cosmetic Dentistry as "one of the first of these new dental spas.”[19] The February 19, 2007 reported that Debra Gray King, DDS, began providing spa services at the Atlanta Center for Cosmetic Dentistry in 1994.
1996 Lorin Berland DDS, began providing a massage therapist on stafF
1999 On July 11, 1999, the New York Times reported several Long Island dentists were offering "distraction techniques" by offering massage therapy to their patients. The article reports that massage services were offered since early 1999.
2000s
2001 On October 1, 2002, Salt Lake Magazine reported that the Dental Spa in Sugarhouse provided patients with complimentary spa services such as temple massage, hand treatments, eye masks, and other techniques aimed at calming the patients. The spa services were provided since the Spa’s inception in 2001.
2002 On August 12, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported Lynn Watanabe, DDS, one of the field’s "pioneers," opened "Dental Spa" in Pacific Palisades, California with a full-time esthetician and full-time massage therapist
2009 Mickelwait Family Dentistry & Spa of Mount Vernon, WA was the first dental spa to open in Skagit and Whatcom counties in Washington state.[citation needed] Washington allows Botox and dermal fillers to be performed by a doctor of dental surgery
Other Early Adapters
The Wall Street Journal noted some of early Dental Spas in the world include Wynn Okuda of Honolulu, Debra King of Atlanta, Jeff Golub-Evans of New York, and Grace Sun of Los Angeles, Some later adapters of the dental spa concept include "Cocosmile" (2005) in Helsinki, Finland; California, "Northwoods Dental Spa" (2004) in San Antonio, Texas, USA; and "Dental Spa" in Seoul, Korea.
Commercial Use of the Name "Dental Spa"
The terms, “dental spa” and “spa dentistry,” began to be more publicly used in the late 1990s. In 1998, Lorin Berland DDS, reserved the name DallasDentalSpa.com.
Variations of the Dental Spa Concept
Although there are many variations, adapters of the dental spa concept generally offer cosmetic, general, and restorative dentistry with a key focus on making the visit a pampering and pleasant experience.
Faux Dental Spas
On one end of the spectrum, some dental offices have done little more than adding candles, flat-screen TVs, cookies and juice in the reception area and call themselves a dental spa.
Dental Med Spas
On the other end, other dental offices have combined with spas, plastic surgeons, hair salons and other healthcare, spa and beauty industry professionals.
Feng Shui
Some of the dental spa providers have incorporated Feng Shui design into the office space. Perhaps the most key spa dentistry treatment is massage, which is known to release endorphins and lower blood pressure. Normal dental office anxiety can raise blood pressure and encourage the production of adrenaline, decreasing the effectiveness of anesthesia. Massage can offset these undesirable effects, in turn requiring less chemical anesthesia for the same numbing effects
Professional Associations
In 1978, the Holistic Dental Association was formed to focus on the mind-body connection and the dental patient’s well being. Spa dentistry is presently recognized by the International Medical Spa Association and the Day Spa Association, but similar to the field of cosmetic dentistry, is not recognized as a specialty practice area by the American Dental Association. In 2002, Lynn Watanabe, DDS founded the first dental spa association with the creation of the International Dental Spa Association.The New York Times reported in 2006 that "it now has ten members and are coming up with guidelines for what services constitute a dental spa."
Prevalence
In 2003, the American Dental Association reported that more than 50% of 427 practicing dentists surveyed at their annual session offered some sort of spa or office amenity. In 2005, as many as 5% of the American Dental Association’s more than 152,000 members had declared themselves "dental spas", a number then growing daily in the U.S. and in other countries, including Panama, Korea, Brazil and Finland.[1] In 2007, the ADA estimated that possibly that one in every 20 dental offices in the United States actually offers, to some extent, some spa dentistry services to their patients.
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