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PHOTO BY ALY DARIN, A treatment room at Renu Acupuncture

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New Year, New Health Goals

Local experts tell how to improve your smile, skin and health with these wellness treatments.

COSMETIC DENTISTRY 

Cosmetic dentistry focuses on improving the appearance of teeth and gums. But for Dr. Craig Goldin, a dentist with the Cosmetic Dentistry Institute in Troy, cosmetic dentistry is more than just face value. He and his wife, Dr. Marcy Goldin, founded the practice in 1985 shortly after graduating dental school at the University of Michigan. They shared a passion for aesthetic dentistry and helping people feel better on the inside as well as looking better on the outside. 

“Unfortunately, our world often judges people based on how they look, and how they present to the world, and so if you have a smile that you’re embarrassed about, sometimes people will hold back.” he says. “They’ve lost confidence, they’ve lost feeling good about themselves, and so aesthetic or cosmetic dentistry is a way to get somebody’s smile back and get back their self-esteem.”

Goldin’s patients come to him for a variety of dental needs, including broken teeth, missing teeth, discoloration, malformations and gaps, as well as full-service general dentistry. He says his most popular service is providing veneers, which cover teeth with a thin layer of porcelain to close gaps, straighten crooked teeth and repair chips and cracks. They can also fix discoloration, and since porcelain is less porous than teeth, they help prevent future staining. 

“[If] you're already getting things fixed, why not make it look fabulous at the same time increase your self-esteem?” he says.

Goldin says cosmetic dentistry can also be less about looks and more about practicality and comfort. Clear aligner therapy, like Invisalign, is an alternative to traditional orthodontics which use braces to straighten crooked teeth. In addition to being practically invisible, Invisalign trays are more comfortable than braces, he says, and, since they are removable, make teeth-cleaning easier.

For those who are missing teeth, Goldin’s practice offers full-mouth dental implants, an alternative to dentures, which make eating and talking more comfortable and don’t need to be removed.

“We give patients the ability to have a third set of teeth,” he says. “They have a beautiful, healthy smile and eat things that perhaps they haven’t been able to eat in years.” Designersmile.com.

SUGARING HAIR REMOVAL

Dating back to ancient Egypt, sugaring hair removal is a process akin to waxing, but is a significantly less painful, more effective process, according to Solange Ferreira, who owns Sugaring NYC in Birmingham. 

Like waxing, sugaring spreads an adhesive substance onto the skin which is subsequently pulled off, taking the hair with it. The paste is an all-natural mix of sugar, water and lemon juice with a honey-like consistency that Ferreira says is safe enough to eat. Unlike with wax, however, the hair is removed in the direction of the hair growth, which she says is less painful, especially to those with sensitive skin, and less likely to cause ingrown hairs. The paste is also self-hardening and does not require an additional strip of paper on top of it to remove, making it less wasteful. The results are expected to last between four and six weeks.

Sugaring can be applied to any part of the body, including legs, arms, underarms and the face, or chests and backs (popular with men). But Ferreira says their most popular request is for bikini lines, especially their full Brazilian. Many clients also opt for a subsequent “V-Facial” with options for a soothing mask, ingrown hair extractions, a chemical peel or a high-frequency machine that treats a variety of skin conditions.

The bubble-gum pink facility is part of the nationwide Sugaring NYC franchise, one of five in Michigan. The Birmingham location opened in December of 2022, and Ferreira says business has grown steadily every month. In addition to sugaring, she offers eyelash lifts, brow lamination and eyebrow or eyelash tinting. 

Ferreira also has a dentistry background, which she practiced in her native Brazil and in Germany. But when moving to the U.S.,she found that practicing here required significantly more education, so she sought an alternative career — and was drawn to the beauty industry.

Ferreira says her work is about making people feel better about themselves, as she did in her dental practice.

“If the clients feel better and [their self-esteem] is good,” she says, “that makes me happy.” 

ACUPUNCTURE 

Acupuncture is a holistic form of ancient medicine that can treat a range of ailments, from pain to anxiety, by applying a series of light needles to different parts of the body, depending on what is being treated. It’s based on the ancient Chinese concept of “chi,” a vital life force that runs in channels throughout the body and manifests at different points, says Renü Acupuncture founder Valentina Anikeyeva. 

“We place the acupuncture needles into those points to stimulate the energy and release any blockage,” she says. “[The chi] has to flow smoothly through your body.”

While Westerners may be skeptical about the process, Anikeyeva says modern research has discovered the process works by stimulating the nervous system. Not a spa treatment; rather, acupuncture is a part of healthcare that is also offered in hospitals and with physical therapy. 

Anikeyeva says her patients come to her to treat a variety of physical and mental ailments, including pain, infertility, stress, insomnia and PTSD. 

“[Eastern medicine] sees your own body and your own immune system as powerful tools,” she says. “If you can stimulate in the right way, you can give it a boost and you can heal yourself.”

Anikeyeva discovered acupuncture after experiencing the benefits firsthand. The Belarus native had completed three years of medical school before moving to the U.S., where it was too costly to continue her studies. Still wanting a career in medicine, she sought an alternative profession that would still be beneficial to patients.

Anikeyeva was first exposed to acupuncture while pregnant and experiencing headaches and lower-back problems. Her uncle, a world-champion professional wrestler, had studied the practice in China, and suggested that she give it a try.

“[Having attended] medical school, I was skeptical, and I was pregnant,” she says. “But he said, ‘Just trust me, it’s going to work.’ And it did.”

Anikeyeva enrolled in graduate school at New Center for Wholistic Health Education and Research (now called the New York College of Health Professions) in New York City, where she began her practice. She and her family moved to Michigan after the pandemic and Anikeyeva opened her Renu Acupuncture in Birmingham in January 2023; following its success, she added a second location in Oak Park in September.

“Acupuncture can be a safer alternative to modern pain medication,” Anikeyeva says, as it can cause liver damage and become addictive. “Those who are curious should try it out,” she says. “There are no side effects and you have nothing to lose.”

  • Dr. Craig Goldin with a beaming patient
  • Dr. Craig Goldin of Cosmetic Dentistry Institute in Troy
  • Sugaring hair removal
  • Solange Ferreira, owner of Sugaring NYC in Birmingham
  • The lobby of Sugaring NYC in Birmingham
  • PHOTO BY ALY DARIN, Valentina Anikeyeva, owner of Renu Acupuncture in Birmingham
  • PHOTO BY ALY DARIN, A treatment room at Renu Acupuncture

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