Like plastic surgeons of a certain class, these power dentists hobnob with their celebrity patients, partying with Donald Trump, dining with Norman Mailer. They show up in gossip columns and hire publicity agents to promote their high-tech gum lasers and state-of-the-art laminating techniques — even sending out Hollywood-style head shots of themselves to advertise their star quality. Gone is the sterile house of pain that used to be identified with dental offices. The newly hip and patient-sensitive dentist operates in opulent surroundings, with an attractive staff trained to deliver concierge services like cappuccino and massage.

"With some of them, it's more about the publicity and trying to elbow their way into high society and get invited to openings," said Dr. Richard Rashbaum, a New York dentist who doesn't consider himself in the dental fast lane.

Dr. Timothy Rose, president of the American Dental Association, said the drop in the decay rate among America's fluoridated generation had given dentists time to focus on esthetics, as had the demand by aging boomers for "the bionic body."

"Most dentists now practice some phase of cosmetic dentistry," he added.

A 1997 survey in the Journal of American Dental Association found that 84 percent of