An afternoon of scraping tartar and polishing tooth enamel until it shines like the luminescent white icing mixed that morning does not sound like the typical full day's work for the average American dentist.

But for Cheri Christian, a dental drill and mixing bowl of sugary icing are the tools she uses to make her living.

Christian is the owner of Sweet Tooth Bakery, 222 W. Calder Way, and a dentist in joint practice with her husband Brian Christian. To complicate the situation, Christian goes by her maiden name, Basco, at her dental office.

Christian decided to go by her maiden name at the dental practice because, "I got all my dental degrees while I was still single," she said. "This way when people call the office, they don't have to ask for Dr. Brian or Dr. Cheri. That's too cutesy for me."

Some customers at the bakery are surprised to find their dentist there.

"I get people confused -- they don't know I'm the dentist," Christian said.

Doris Baker -- who is a patient of Dr. Brian Christian -- was the first customer at the bakery.

"I gave them their first dollar," she said, adding, "I didn't know if I should look for the bakery or open my mouth and say ahh."

The bakery, which opened Dec. 13, is a result of years of preparation.

Christian first became interested in cake decorating from watching a girlfriend's mother and expanded that interest by attending the Wilton School in Chicago. The school is internationally revered for cake decorating, she said.

The training obviously paid off. Karen Clark of State College, one of the Christians' patients, got remarried right before the bakery opened -- and she benefited from Christian's baking skills.

"She made my wedding cake, and it was wonderful," Clark said.

The bakery finally opened a couple of years after Christian got the idea to bring her baking talents into business -- a process she found to be far from easy.

"No one tells you what taxes you have to pay. No one tells you what codes you have to follow," she said, adding that finding a place to rent and preparing it for business add to the difficulties for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Since the store's opening, Christian said it has had its share of success.

"We did good business before Christmas," she said, adding that although her specialty is cake decoration, her other baking talents that include pastries and chocolate business cards cater to everybody.

"It's great. It's really like homemade," Baker said, adding that she loved Christian's Christmas cookies.

But Christian said she is not interested in invading other bakers' territory.

"I don't want to get up at 5 a.m. and make bagels and bread," she said.

Starting this Friday, however, Christian's business will cater to more customers when she opens Agape Coffee House, a sit-down caf adjacent to the bakery.

The cluttered mess that now occupies the future site of the coffee house is quite the opposite of the homey atmosphere in the bakery.

The five diplomas from various courses at the Wilton School in one corner reveal the training behind Christian's baked creations, which are displayed neatly throughout the shop. The intricately decorated cakes in the shapes of everything from hot air balloons to grand pianos, along with chocolate woven baskets and delicate pastries, complete the aura that beckons to a customer's weakness for sweets -- a weakness, ironically, that is usually frowned upon by dentists.

"We give out toothbrushes," Christian said. "If you brush within 20 minutes, you won't get acid production and decay."

Clark said that Christian stays true to her training. "She also bakes sugar-free stuff," she said.

Although it is a hectic life being a part of two businesses, Christian is able to cope with the help of two part-time employees, her husband, and the relief of being out of the dentist's office.

"The office is pretty stressful," she said. "People don't like dentists. They like to come here."

Christian is very happy with her business and looks forward to many more years of not only success, but fun.

"I like to come down here where you can just put your fingers in that dough and go," she said.