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Spa treatments
Local dentists bring herbs, homeopathy, and comfort to their practices

BY CARLA CORREA

Dr. Lynn Locklear's dentist office smells like floral-scented candles and, if a patient walks in at the right time, fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies. Lotions and oils take the place of a standard-issued metal soap dispenser in the bathroom. And while a woman waits for her check-up, the staff treats her hands to a paraffin wax.

"We think of it as a dental spa," says Makael Newby, patient-care coordinator at Locklear's Takoma office. The quaint building has housed a dentist office for about 85 years, but Newby says Locklear is now "trying to create a very different, comforting environment."

But it's not just the royal treatment that keeps patients coming back. Locklear offers modern dental techniques that most dentists don't offer, including neuromuscular dentistry. The process, she says, allows her to correct everything from jaw pain to a less-than-ideal bite.

Just over the Maryland line in Silver Spring, Dr. Terry Victor gives his patients fluoride-free cleanings and herbal remedies. Victor's practice opened March 31, and like Locklear, he says he gets to know his patients so he can provide them with personalized treatment that makes them feel at ease in the dental chair.

In recent years, more people have embraced alternatives to widespread medical practices. Some are looking for alternative procedures and natural supplements to take care of their pearly whites. Other patients simply are afraid of the dentist or desire a family-like atmosphere when they visit a doctor. Locklear and Victor are two of the few dentists in the area that offer variations on common teeth procedures.

Victor says he combines traditional dentistry with a holistic, or biological, approach. Patients can still receive cleanings and X-rays, but the treatment has a twist. It's more natural; he uses different materials other than metals, known as amalgams, for fillings because he says the commonly used mercury and silver could harm the body. Locklear agrees, and will remove a patient's metal filling and replace it with a non-metal material. Newby calls the amalgams "Civil War dentistry."

Victor may also prescribe a flower-based liquid to treat gums. "A lot of times when you go to the dentist it's like, let's jump in there and clean your teeth," he says. "But everybody's different."

Victor says he even makes house calls for special circumstances. Anything he can't handle is referred to a specialist, just like any other dentist would do.

"You still have to do proper oral care," says Victor, who became interested in holistic dentistry because of his own lifestyle; he's a vegetarian who loves exercise and taking care of his health. "When I got into dentist school, I saw they were using a lot of things I wouldn't do myself," he says. "I'd rather use herbs and homeopathy."

Locklear calls her practice "life-enhancing dentistry." After many years as a traditional dentist, Locklear, who takes numerous classes at the prestigious Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies, decided to change her practice little-by-little to not only accommodate cutting-edge dental work, but to satisfy her own personal preferences of what a dentist's office should be like.

That meant, among many things, seeing about 20 patients per week and offering neuromuscular and aesthetic dentistry, along with senses-pleasing aromatherapy and, soon, massages.

Aesthetic dentistry involves listening to a patients' dental wish list. For both Locklear and Victor, health is important, but so is self-esteem. Newby of Locklear's office says it's okay for patients to want to keep gaps between their teeth if it doesn't affect their health. If a patient wants to whiten teeth simply to have a movie-star smile, that's fine, too, she says.

Neuromuscular dentistry relaxes the muscles controlling the jaw with gentle, electrical stimulation, thus allowing Locklear to confirm the relaxed position of a patient's jaw. She then compares the patient's usual bite with the relaxed jaw position and decides if the person's bite should be adjusted to ease pain. This often means a patient must wear a plastic piece between his or her teeth to adjust the bite. Sometimes Locklear builds up worn-down teeth (a result of grinding) with ceramic or porcelain.

Sandra McClain, one of Locklear's first patients, is currently using neuromuscular dentistry to ease a facial injury.

"I've seen some of the work she's done with her other patients in person, and the work is exemplary," says McClain, of Takoma Park. "I tried everything...when she started working with me, there were instant results."

The results of neuromuscular dentistry may make it look like a person had braces, or even oral surgery. "I firmly believe it's going to be the baseline for the way dentistry is taught in the future," Locklear says. "This is a way to do the stuff...without surgery."

Newby compares the teeth-muscle relationship to a car. "The teeth are really just wheels," she says. "They're just kind of there...but what actually drives them is the muscles."

The process is just one example of how Locklear and Victor look at the relationship between teeth and the rest of the body—another key principle of their practices is that the two are intrinsically related. That means patients and doctors should view dentistry in lieu of overall body health, not as separate matters, they say.

"The mouth is like the opening to the rest of your body," Victor says, noting that jaw pain can lead to neck and back pain since the muscles are related. "Whatever problems you're having in your mouth are connected to the rest of you."

And while Locklear and Victor both enjoy a growing list of people who are interested in their techniques, Victor says there is opposition to the work from professionals who believe such practices aren't necessary.

"It's really cutting edge," Victor says. "A lot of dentists and dental organizations don't notice there's a need for this. But there are people that have been doing it for about 20 years. People back then must have thought [those dentists] were really out there. It's something that's gaining more acceptance now."

Still, part of the challenge is getting the up-to-date training the doctors want. For Locklear, that means spending thousands of dollars on the latest dental training. Victor says he belongs to numerous organizations that provide him with new literature and a bounty of resources.

"You have to network with other dentists that have similar views," he added. "You have to do a lot of reading. You really have to study. It's much easier if you don't do it by yourself."