Dental spa

A Dental Spa is a dental facility supervised by a licensed dentist in which dental services are provided alongside spa treatments. "Spa dentistry", a term describing the dentistry practiced there, is recognized by the International Medical Spa Association and the Day Spa Association, but not the American Dental Association.

Background
Lorin Berland, DDS, a Texas-based cosmetic dentist, is generally credited with coining the term "Dental Spa" in 1998, but spa dentistry was first introduced in 1978 by the Holistic Dental Association. Some of the pioneer Dental Spas in the world include "Cocosmile" in Helsinki, Finland; "Cosmetic and Biological Dental Spa" in San Clemente, California, USA; "Dental Spa" in Pacific Palisades, California, USA; and "Dental Spa" in Seoul, Korea.

Prevalence
In 2003, The American Dental Association revealed 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 as "dental spas", a number then growing daily in the U.S. and in other countries, including Korea, Brazil and Finland.