Chipped, discolored and oddly spaced teeth can affect your confidence and leave you feeling reluctant to show off your smile. At Van Dyke General and Implant Dentistry, our dentists in Gainesville, FL, work to restore your confidence and let your beautiful smile shine through. If you feel dissatisfied with the appearance of your teeth, tooth bonding could be an ideal solution. Composite bonding, sometimes referred to as cosmetic bonding, teeth bonding, or dental bonding, is a procedure during which your dentist applies a tooth-colored resin to your teeth in order to improve the appearance of your smile.
Composite bonding is completely pain-free and there is no permanent alteration to the natural structure of your teeth following the procedure. Composite bonding is an excellent option for correcting the appearance of chipped, fractured, or discolored teeth, as well as to close small gaps in between teeth or to improve the overall look of the smile. Allow our Gainesville dentists to help you improve your oral health and the appearance of your smile with a visit to our office. Contact us today for more information about dental bonding and to schedule a dentist appointment for a bright, beautiful, and confident smile.
Dental bonding can be useful in improving the appearance of teeth that are slightly crooked. Through the process of adding special dental resin to strategic areas on and surrounding the crooked tooth, your dentist can conceal or reduce the visibility of teeth that are misaligned, creating the appearance of perfectly straight teeth. Tooth bonding may not be beneficial for teeth with a severe misalignment, whereas it is ideal for teeth with a minor degree of misalignment. For severely crooked teeth or significant bite issues, orthodontic treatment may be necessary.
Teeth bonding can be used to improve the aesthetics of the bottom teeth as well as the top teeth. When considering composite bonding for the bottom teeth, however, there are a number of factors which must be examined prior to the procedure, such as the patient’s bite and how the top and bottom rows of teeth meet. If the patient suffers from conditions such as bruxism, or teeth grinding, for example, then dental bonding may not be an ideal option, as the composite resin material may degrade due to the force of the grinding of the teeth against one another.
If you desire to change the appearance of gaps in between your front teeth, then composite bonding may be your solution. Composite dental bonding can be used to fill in space for a single gap or multiple, small-size gaps between all of the teeth, providing amazing, natural-looking results. Your dentist will place the composite resin on two of the teeth with a gap in between them and then manipulate the material to close the gap or to make the gap more discrete. If the gap is extremely large, another solution such as SureSmile® Clear Aligners may be required prior to completing the process with composite dental bonding.
Bonding is a reliable and sturdy cosmetic dentistry solution that can last more than 10 years, with an average of a 3–10-year lifespan, depending on your oral hygiene and maintenance. However, chips or wear may occur and can be easily fixed in a single visit. Dental bonding is an easy way to cosmetically repair the look of chipped, crooked or discolored teeth. We place a white filling on your teeth which can both whiten and smooth its appearance. The tooth filling is easily modified to closely resemble your natural tooth color so the bonding goes unnoticed.
Although teeth bonding can be used to fill spaces between your teeth, we mold the white filling so that it resembles the natural shape of your tooth. No one will be able to tell that your teeth aren’t naturally straight and beautiful. The filling used for bonding can also be used for teeth fillings, and using bonding filling is often preferred by patients who want a natural-looking alternative to silver amalgam fillings.
Along with composite tooth bonding, there are multiple other cosmetic and general dentistry procedures available to create your dream smile. One popular alternative to dental bonding is
porcelain veneers. Porcelain veneers are made from a thin porcelain material and they are placed over the natural teeth. The shape of each porcelain veneer is specifically made to fit onto your existing tooth and create a natural look that is nearly imperceivable from the rest of the teeth. Depending on your goals for your smile, a veneer can be used to cover up one discolored, injured, or chipped tooth, or multiple may be used to cover several compromised teeth, creating a healthy, complete smile in the process.
Veneers are generally painless but they can require multiple visits to complete. In comparison with composite bonding, veneers usually cost more than bonding, though they can last a lifetime. If you aim to cover teeth that don’t respond to professional teeth whitening, veneers are often a superior choice. Veneers and bonding are made to blend-in with your natural teeth, yet veneers are stain-resistant, unlike bonding resin, which can darken over time. Resin tooth bonding is more useful for chipped or damaged teeth, as the material can be shaped to match the tooth. Depending on your overall oral goals, a combination of dental bonding and veneers may be your ideal option.
Whether your treatment plan calls for direct composite restorations or adhesive-bonded restorations to one or more of your teeth, our dentists usually start the procedure by using a rubber dam to isolate the tooth or teeth in question, preventing interference from saliva and moisture. Depending on the extent of your treatment, a topical anesthesia may be applied to the area. The exact procedure steps may vary from patient-to-patient, depending on the exact goals of treatment and the current condition of the teeth. You may either recieve a direct composite resin or a resin restoration from a dental laboratory.
During a direct composite resin restoration, your dentist will apply a putty-like composite resin material in stages on the natural tooth surface, and then shape and sculpt the material. Once succiessfully manipulated to the desired result, the composite is then hardened with a high-intensity curing light. Thereafter, the previous step may be repeated and then cured, until the filling or direct composite veneer has reached its final shape and hardness.
Your dentist will also provide a proper finish to the tooth in order to ensure the bonded resin does not dislodge from its place or cause the surrounding teeth to feel sensitive. Polishing will help ensure the resin restoration both looks and feels smooth.
A restoration from a laboratory following similar steps to those within the direct composite resin restoration process. During this type of composite restoration, however, your dentist will apply the appropriate resin adhesive into the restoration item, seat the restoration item on your tooth, and light-cure the piece using a high-intensity curing light for a specific amount of time. Following your restoration, it is not uncommon to feel sensitivity in the bonded tooth, particularly if that tooth has been filled or if a crown or inlay has been placed within it. Any minor degree of sensitivity is usually short-lived and dissipates soon thereafter.
If you’re looking for an effective way to correct a chipped tooth, discolored tooth or repair spaces between your teeth, then dental bonding in Gainesville, FL, from Van Dyke General and Implant Dentistry may be an ideal way to improve the look of your teeth.
Composite bonding is an attractive option for many individuals looking to improve the appearance of their smile or for those seeking to remediate damaged teeth. Tooth bonding can offer a wide range of benefits, some of which can include the following advantages.
