Upon your first steps inside, you're handed a cold, welcoming drink and offered a seat in a leather massage chair that promises to knead out that nagging stress. Soft music soothes your nerves, while a fish tank bubbles melodically against the wall. Would you like a paraffin hand treatment and a neck pillow? How about a freshly baked cookie?

But it's not spa time. Believe it or not, you're at your dentist's office. According to a study conducted by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, patients are expecting more from their dental professionals in terms of surroundings as well as services. And, more and more, they are getting these upgrades.

For surroundings, here in Southwest Florida visitors to Dr. Bradley Engle's Naples office are gently welcomed with the scent of vanilla, infused via outlets throughout the building. Comfortable furniture, including a state-of-the-art massage chair, can make waiting a pleasure. "We believe that the dental experience can be very calming, pleasant," Engle says. Even in surgery, patients are lulled with soft jazz.

As baby boomers seek to improve their smiles and keep their youthful appearance, patients, says the study, have increased their demands for procedures like whitening. Nearly half the responding dental practices in the survey report a 15 percent increase in cosmetic procedures since 2000.

In New York, Chicago, Boston and several other cities, comfort measures have taken dental offices straight into day-spa territory. BriteSmile, which offers one-hour whitening procedures to dentists worldwide, also operates more than a dozen freestanding dental "spas."

Even upscale hotels have experimented with the concept, including the Ritz-Carlton, Naples, where the Andara Smile Spa operated

until recently.

But adding spa touches to the dental office seems to be proving more successful than situating dentists in spas. "Patients today want to come in through the door and see a relaxing environment," Engle says, "And on the clinical side, they want to see state-of-the-art equipment."

Hot towels, a massage chair and the scent of chocolate chip cookies baking in the office kitchen are among the comfort measures used in Dr. Paul DeCarlo's Fort Myers office. A few months ago, DeCarlo added two-inch-thick memory foam cushions to the dental chairs. "You wouldn't believe how many good comments we get on that," he says. "We want our guests to feel like they're coming into a

relative's home."

In Sarasota, father-daughter dentists Eugene and Christine Koval and their staff offer warm paraffin hand treatments, a service usually found only in day spas. Patients are offered warm neck pillows, back-massaging pillows, fleece blankets and warm, scented towels for freshening up after a procedure.

The Amnerican Dental Association has touted the benefits of soothing patients with views of plants, flowers and water. The entire back of Dr. Larry W. Dunford's Cape Coral dental office is a view of the waterfront. It's at channel marker No. 64, where patients could tie up and drop in if they wanted to.

Usually, though, those touches of nature are brought indoors. Three freshwater fish tanks are situated throughout Dr. Helmut Richardt's Naples office. Lively goldfish and graceful angelfish dart and hide among plants in the crystal-clear water. One dental chair is on either side of the tank, strategically placed for both distraction and privacy.

But the centerpiece of Richardt's office is its atrium with a 24-foot ceiling and skylight, allowing sunshine to play a role in dental appointments. It bathes the office in natural light, which is important for selecting the right color in porcelain veneers or measuring the degree of change in a whitening procedure.

Richardt designed the pink stucco building that houses his International Institute for Cosmetic Dentistry on Tamiami Trail North, as well as his year-old Trail East practice, Renaissance Aesthetic Dentistry. Both are tailored for clinical expertise as well as comfort. They represent, he says, "a higher level of service that our patients expect."