to their patients. The article reports that massage services were offered since early 1999. 2000s 2001 On October 1, 2002, Salt Lake Magazine reported that the Dental Spa in Sugar House provided patients with complimentary spa services such as temple massage, hand treatments, eye masks, and other techniques aimed at calming the patients. The spa services were provided since the Spa's inception in 2001. 2002 On August 12, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported Lynn Watanabe, DDS, one of the field's "pioneers," opened "Dental Spa" in Pacific Palisades, California, with a full-time esthetician and full-time massage therapist. Other early adopters The Wall Street Journal noted Jeff Golub-Evans of New York and Grace Sun of Los Angeles, Prevalence In 2003, the American Dental Association reported 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 "dental spas". In 2007, the ADA estimated that possibly that one in every 20 dental offices in the United States actually offers, to some extent, some spa dentistry services to their patients. Professional associations In 1978, the Holistic Dental Association was formed to focus on the mind-body connection and the dental patient's well-being. Spa dentistry is recognized by the International Medical Spa Association and the Day Spa Association, but similar to the field of cosmetic dentistry, is not recognized as a specialty practice area by the American Dental Association. In 2002, Lynn Watanabe, DDS founded the first dental spa association with the creation of the International Dental Spa Association. The New York Times reported in 2006 that "it now has ten members and are coming up with guidelines for what services constitute a dental spa." Dental fear studies One of the main reasons people avoid visiting the dentist is dental anxiety. Dental anxiety drives some people to create more dental problems by not visiting the dentist on a regular basis. Patients who are high in dental anxiety have the greatest likelihood of avoiding dental treatment. An estimated nine percent to fifteen percent of the American population—about 30 million to 40 million people—avoid essential dental care because of fear or anxiety. The first known scientific study on dental fear occurred in 1954. Dental anxiety has been a well-studied phenomenon since the late 1960s. Since then, studies and several