Dental Bonding for a Beautiful Smile
Everyone wants to have a dazzling bright smile, but damaged or deformed teeth can prevent your smile from looking its best. Even worse is that issues with your teeth can make you feel self-conscious, and cause you to avoid smiling. Smiles are an important part of our outward appearance, so when you have problems with your smile, you hide yourself from the world. For some patients who have just a few issues with their teeth, there is an easy, quick way to make long-lasting repairs to damages, crooked teeth or gaps. The solution? Dental Bonding. Dental bonding has long been used to repair minor tooth damages like chips and small cracks. And with new technological developments in the resin we use, dental bonding is a great alternative to crowns and veneers.
What is Dental Bonding?
Before you jump on the dental bonding bandwagon, it’s important to know exactly what it is, and what dental bonding can realistically fix.
Dental bonding is a process of repairing a damaged tooth using a tooth-colored resin, made of a composite material that is plastic based. This resin comes in a full range of colors, so it is easy to match your existing tooth color. Often times, with minor repairs, we only need to do minor preparation of the tooth to use dental resin, so many repairs can be made to your smile, without numbing your mouth. This can be a real advantage to our patients who have fear of needles, or a general fear of dentists.
So, what kind of dental issues can dental bonding fix?
- Gaps
- Spots
- Chips
- Cracks
- Discolorations
- Misshapen teeth
- Decayed teeth
The Process of Dental Bonding
Step 1 – Preparing the Tooth
Before we do any work on your teeth, we need to select the correct colored resin material. The resin manufacturer provides us with a plastic wheel of colors that represents the variety of colors available. We’ll hold these up to your damaged tooth, to determine which color matches best.
Once we’ve found the right color, we’ll prepare the tooth. If your tooth needs substantial work, or if we are using the resin to fill a cavity or repair decay, we’ll numb your mouth first. If you just have a minor cosmetic repair, we may be able to skip this step. When your mouth is numb, we will use dental tools to remove any decay and to shape the existing tooth or rough the surface. This roughing will give a good surface for the resin material to bond to.
Step 2- Appling the Resin Bond
Once the tooth is prepared, we will apply a priming material that will give a better surface for the resin to adhere to. Once the primer is dry, the resin material is layered on to the prepared tooth surface. It is molded and shaped carefully, so that there is enough material to fine tune the shape of your tooth when the resin is dry.
Step 3 – Shaping and Polishing
Once the resin is applied, we use an ultraviolet light to harden the resin material and to cure it to your tooth. Once hard, the resin can then be more finely shaped to match the rest of your teeth. We follow the shaping with a smooth, shiny polish that will make your repaired tooth look like your natural teeth.
Dental bonding is a great option for making repairs to teeth that have minor damages or need simple correction. It is important to know that it isn’t a great option for all repairs, and because dental resin isn’t as hard as porcelain, it may not last as long as veneers or a crown.
I Have a Broken Tooth and Want More Information on Dental Bonding!
Dr. Apsey and the team at Smile Brightly want to help you have a beautiful smile you can be proud to show the world. If you need a great cosmetic or general dentist and you are in the Shelby Township area, call us today to schedule an appointment for dental treatment in Warren, MI or to meet our great staff.