Soft lights, sweet music, hot tea, plush cushions, pacifying aromas and a shoulder massage.

In other words, sheer bliss, interrupted only by the occasional, high-pitched keening of a dentist’s drill.

Welcome to Dental One, the Calgary “dental spa” that pledges to combine fear- purging creature comforts with the kind of drop-dead gorgeous smile you never even dared dream about.

Dr. Deborah Cooper-Lall, cosmetic dentist, opens her new spa at street level in Bankers Hall next January. Judging from the volume of traffic streaming to her current address in Scotia Centre, it might be an idea to book ahead.

Mike Sturk photo, Business Edge
Dr. Deborah Cooper-Lall says new techniques can correct lifelong dental problems.

“Typically, when people think of dentistry they get a little anxious,” Cooper-Lall explained. “We’re trying to create the spa atmosphere to help people feel at ease.”

That means soothing colours, arts and cultural magazines instead of Readers’ Digest, even massage chairs in the patients’ lounge (in spa land, plebian terms such as ‘waiting room’ are out).

“We want to incorporate paraffin wax treatments for their hands, hot-towel treatments and wireless headphones with relaxing music,” she said.

Most of Cooper-Lall’s patients have different problems from the swollen-jawed multitudes who glumly wait their turn in the offices of more traditional practitioners.

Some have been dodging mirrors for decades. They’ve lived with crooked, gapped or even badly eroded teeth all their lives. And no amount of reassurance from supportive family or friends can convince them they don’t look hideous.

But since new techniques in cosmetic (or esthetic) dentistry gained currency in the mid-’90s, longtime sufferers now have the option to take corrective steps. Cooper-Lall, who received her post-graduate training at the University of Alberta dental school, originally embarked on a traditional career path. But she became bored with yanking wisdom teeth and drilling bicuspids. “It’s tooth-by-tooth dentistry. You go in for a checkup, no cavities, you’re fine. But things may not look right, the patient may not be biting properly,” she said.

“After a couple years of that, I decided I didn’t like the model of waiting for something to break, then fixing it. I chose to start looking at the whole mouth, the whole face.”

Since cosmetic techniques aren’t taught in most “functional” dental schools, she studied under practising specialists in Florida and Seattle. Today, her practice offers a mix of both general and far more specialized dental care.

It’s easy to sneer at the growing public interest in cosmetic dentistry as the latest manifestation of a superficial generation’s obsession with glitzy externals.

Cosmetics are often dismissed as just another new fashion fetish, indulged in by self-obsessed narcissists with more cash than brains.

After all, the cost isn’t covered by most dental insurance plans. And it can get expensive.

At Dental One, a straight-forward teeth-whitening procedure can cost as little as $199, plus GST.

At the other end of the scale, costs for more complex procedures can run as high as $1,500 per tooth.

But it’s hard to put a price on the depth of a patient’s renewed self-esteem when a serious and lifelong cosmetic problem is corrected at last.

Cooper-Lall is used to the heartfelt thanks and grateful hugs she gets from patients. And there’s no age limit when it comes to wanting to look good.

One 83-year-old woman with gapped, yellow-brown choppers came to the clinic with a blunt self-appraisal: “Y’know what? I’m fed up with my teeth.” So she asked Cooper-Lall to do something about it. Cosmetic dentists such as Cooper-Lall strive for the natural look. Newly developed ceramics and cements for bonding veneer to lifeless-looking teeth allow her to manage it.

“Now we have a type of porcelain that’s strong enough to eliminate the need for the metallic alloy interior which used to reinforce crowns,” she said. “These new techniques give the tooth more of a natural vitality. They allow the light to reflect off your teeth in a natural way.”

Corrective cosmetic dentistry addresses serious health issues as well. Example: Baby Boomers grew up long before braces (for correcting crooked teeth) became a trendy fashion statement for kids. Ergo, many resisted when their parents tried to drag them to the orthodontist.

Today, they’re beyond middle age, still nursing a problem that could have been solved 40 years ago.

And crooked, crowded teeth can be impossible to clean properly. This allows hard-to-reach plaque to build up, leading to gum disease and bone deterioration. Cooper-Lall’s patients have opted to fight back. Armed with fresh smiles, they’re not afraid to go toe-to-toe with any mirror in town.