Christopher Muther of the Boston Globe thinks most people who whiten their teeth go overboard with the unnatural whiteness. We'd have to agree.

A friend met him for lunch and when she flashed her ivories, it was as if she had turned on a florescent light bulb. Her teeth are a shade of white not even found in the Arctic. I had to fight the urge to stare in amazement.

I was too polite to say it to her face, but I'm not too polite to say it in print. Teeth should resemble a color found in nature, not the xenon headlights that blind me in my rearview mirror as I drive.

A dentist he interviews says that in the early days of whitening, dentists didn't take teeth to these shades but now many people are insisting on having their teeth look like a porcelain toilet bowl.

He goes on to say that the rule of thumb for whitening is that a person's teeth should be no brighter than the whites of their eyes. That way the focus stays on the eyes, not on the mouth.

Here's a spectacular and very short video (only 37 seconds) promoting a cosmetic dentist whose office is at the beautiful Whistler ski resort town in BC Canada. We especially like the special effect at the end of the video.

via Whistler Dental and Veneer Videos

If you're looking for a gallery of before and after pictures of real people who've had their smiles improved with porcelain veneers, check out these pages at LocateADoc.com. It's probably the largest gallery of veneer photos available online. There are at least 250 before and after photos shown here as submitted by various dentists from across the country. A patient named Kim is shown here. Kim had eight porcelain veneers placed on her upper teeth and her lower teeth were professionally whitened by her cosmetic dentist, Dr. Anne Gershkowitz.

How do you find a dentist that's a true expert in cosmetic dentistry?

Most people don't do the Yellow Pages anymore. Instead they start their search by going to Google and typing something like 'cosmetic dentistry', and their city name.

What dentists are you going to find when you do that? Will it be the best cosmetic dentist in your city? Or will it be the dentist who invested the most in building an online presence?

The latter of course. Though it's true that often the most experienced cosmetic dentists are also the ones who have realized the importance of marketing their business online.

Many dentists still get by just fine without even a website, while other dentists who seek new business are investing marketing dollars into online search advertising and sophisticated website design.

One of the fastest growing marketing tools is the online video. Prospective patients love to see before and after videos and to hear testimonials. People are just starting to search for videos from local dentists on YouTube.

There's a marketing firm thats emerging as a leader so far in this area. They are VeneerVideo.com. Check out their very polished website persuading dentists about the importance of video marketing.

Here's a couple of videos they've done for two young cosmetic dentists in Jacksonville Florida who call themselves the Smile Stylists. The Smile Stylists have invested in a very high-end website to promote their cosmetic dentistry services. They specialize in porcelain veneers, teeth whitening, dental bonding, crowns and Invisalign.

The Smile Stylists have gone all out to bring their website to high-end perfection. But most dentists would only need one short video to introduce themselves to new prospective clients.

Cosmetic dentists can earn thousands of dollars per day. It's one profession that really can benefit from quality videos on their website.

The inventor of Snap on Smile is getting lots of publicity these days. Snap-On Smile™ are false teeth made of a specialized resin that can be as thin as .5mm without compromising strength. They fit directly over existing teeth and cost between $900 to $1,600. So it's a much cheaper alternative than porcelain veneers which can cost over $1,000 per tooth.

See more about Snap on Smile in the video below. At the end of the video the dentists beautiful assistant shows us her snap on smile and then takes it off to reveal her real teeth.

Here's a video ad to promote Empress Veneers. This guy had eight veneers placed on his front teeth. (Does he not look like a very handsome happy beaver or what?!)

It wasn't too long ago when people only visited a dentist when they needed their teeth repaired. The idea of going to a dentist to improve your looks was almost taboo a couple of decades ago. But now it's a whole different ball game. As Dr. Mopper says; "We're in the realm of the plastic surgeon. People come to you because they want their look changed."

See a good overview of the changing world of dental esthetics here.

It used to be that if you wanted veneers, your dentist needed to shave off a big chunk of your natural tooth. But today's veneers have come a long way, they are the seventh generation of porcelain laminates. They can be paper thin and bonded onto the tooth front.

According to New Beauty Magazine;

At times, only the smallest amount of natural tooth is required to be reduced before veneer placement. The latest versions are also more translucent. The newer state-of-the-art veneers (like Empress veneers) allow light to penetrate through, producing a translucency which is very natural looking and attractive.