CRESTVIEW HILLS — If you love art but hate your teeth, this is the trend for you: dentists' offices that double as art galleries.

        Dr. Michael Palmer is apparently the first tooth man in Northern Kentucky to borrow an idea from quirky restaurants. Faced with blank walls in his new office for cosmetic dentistry, he decided to use the space for rotating displays of original paintings.

        “People who have money to spend on art also have discretionary income to pay for these procedures, so it's just win, win, win,” says Marsie Newbold, who handles public relations for the doctor.

        Each artist must agree to donate 10 percent of any sales to the Women's Crisis Center in Covington.

        The first 19 pieces, by Hyde Park artist B.B. Hall, were unveiled at a party just steps away from one of those vaguely scary-looking reclining chairs.

        Dr. Palmer does consultations under a brightly colored still life of tomatoes and corn.

        He wields his air-water syringe around the corner from “Mother-in—Law and Poodle,” a whimsical portrait priced at $600.

        His patients spend an average of $4,000 on treatments that include closing gaps, bleaching teeth, replacing discolored crowns and reshaping teeth that are too small, too long or too pointed. It's all part of a trend in medicine.

        Squeezed by the rising cost of malpractice insurance on one end and static reimbursement rates on the other, doctors are reaching out to people who can pay for special services themselves.

        “To a certain degree, you have to cater to a different type of patient,” says Jon Mendelsohn, a facial cosmetic surgeon in Hyde Park.

        That patient wants cutting-edge technology and more time with doctors. He or she doesn't want to sit in waiting rooms with screaming children and tattered copies of Good Housekeeping, circa Christmas '99.

        Dr. Mendelsohn's new office in Hyde Park features a 480-gallon saltwater aquarium and rotating artwork on loan from the Malton Gallery.

        He's considering hosting opening parties for artists whose work is on display. And with the recent addition of a cosmetic dentist, he's pondering a “day-spa concept” in which people would get massages and facials along with better-looking teeth.

        In Northern Kentucky, Dr. Palmer is keeping things simple. He doesn't want patients to think they're paying for overly lavish digs, he says.

        He continues to maintain a family practice in Florence, where patients get preventive treatments covered by insurance. The separate office for cosmetic work wasn't required, he says; it was a marketing strategy.

        The original artwork adds just the right touch of uniqueness.

        Plus there's this bonus: Occasionally, “Palmer Cosmetic Dentistry Art Gallery” is listed on the arts pages of local newspapers.

        Welcome to a hallway of art, folks.

        Don't be afraid of the reclining chair at the end.

        Karen Samples is the Enquirer's Kentucky columnist. She can be reached at (859) 578-5584 or at ksamples@enquirer.com.
       

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