Dental bonding is a simple and affordable cosmetic dental procedure that can fix many problems with your teeth. At Hermitage Dental Clinic in Edmonton, we recommend dental bonding for patients who want to fix chipped, cracked, discolored, or slightly misaligned teeth. Dental bonding is an effective solution to enhance your smile without extensive treatment.
Benefits of Dental Bonding
Dental bonding is a popular way to make small but noticeable improvements to your smile. It offers several key advantages that make it a great choice for many of our patients. The most common advantages include:
- Quick and Convenient: One of the biggest perks of dental bonding is that it’s fast. The entire procedure can usually be finished in just one visit to our Edmonton dental clinic. You can walk in with a chip or a gap and walk out with a restored smile, all without needing to come back for more appointments.
- An Affordable Option: Dental bonding is also one of the most budget-friendly cosmetic treatments available. It’s a simpler process that can fix minor issues without a major expense. It costs significantly less than other options like veneers or crowns.
- A Natural Look: Our dentists will shade the material used in bonding, called composite resin, to match the exact color of your natural teeth. After the dentist applies and polishes it, the bonded tooth blends in perfectly with your smile. No one will be able to tell which tooth was worked on because of the seamless appearance.
- Saves Your Natural Tooth: Unlike some other procedures that need shaving down the tooth, dental bonding is minimally invasive. The dentist only prepares the tooth surface by roughening it a little to help the material stick. This means we preserve most of your tooth structure, which is always the best outcome for your long-term dental health.
- Boosts Your Confidence: Fixing a small chip, crack, or stain can make a huge difference in how you feel about your smile. A smoother, more even smile can help you feel more confident when you’re talking, laughing, or meeting new people.
The Dental Bonding Process
The process for getting dental bonding is straightforward and comfortable. Here’s a step-by-step look at what happens during your appointment.
Step 1: Consultation and Shade Matching
First, you and your dentist will talk about your goals for your smile. Our dentist will examine your tooth to make sure bonding is the right solution. Then, they’ll use a shade guide to find the perfect match for the composite resin material. This ensures the bonding will blend seamlessly with your natural teeth.
Step 2: Preparing the Tooth
Unlike other procedures, dental bonding needs very little preparation. Our dentist will gently roughen the surface of your tooth and apply a conditioning liquid. This isn’t painful, and you won’t need any anesthesia unless we’re using the bonding to fill a small cavity. This step creates a surface that helps the bonding material stick securely.
Step 3: Applying the Resin
Next, our dentist will apply the putty-like, tooth-colored resin to your tooth. We’ll carefully mold and shape the material to fill in a gap, repair a chip, or cover a stain. This is where the artistry comes in. Our dentist sculpts the resin so it looks completely natural and matches the contour of your surrounding teeth.
Step 4: Hardening the Material
Once the resin is perfectly shaped, our dentist uses a special bright blue light to harden it. This process is called “curing.” The light activates the chemicals in the resin, causing it to set and become very strong. This only takes a few minutes per tooth.
Step 5: Final Shaping and Polishing
After the material is hard, our dentist will trim and shape it further if needed. We might smooth out any rough edges to perfect the shape. Finally, we’ll polish the bonded tooth until it shines and matches the lustrous look of your other teeth.
And that’s it! The entire process is usually pain-free and complete in about 30 to 60 minutes per tooth. You can leave the office with an instantly improved smile and return to your normal activities right away.
Dental Bonding vs. Teeth Whitening: Which is Right for You?
Many people come to Hermitage Dental Clinic hoping to make their smile brighter. Two of the most common ways to do this are dental bonding and teeth whitening. While both can improve your smile, they work very differently. Understanding these differences will help you choose the best option for your goals.
Teeth Whitening: For an All-Over Brightening
Teeth whitening is a process that lightens the color of all your natural teeth at once. It’s the best choice if your main concern is that your teeth have become yellow or stained over time from things like coffee, tea, red wine, or smoking.
One of the biggest advantages of whitening is that it’s fast and less expensive than bonding. A professional in-office whitening treatment only takes about an hour. While the results are dramatic, they aren’t permanent. Your teeth can gradually become stained again, so most patients need a touch-up treatment every so often to keep their smile bright.
Dental Bonding: For Repairing and Reshaping
Dental bonding is different. Instead of lightening all your teeth, it focuses on fixing specific problems on one tooth at a time. The dentist applies a tooth-colored resin to repair issues like chips, cracks, gaps, or even deep stains that whitening can’t remove.
Bonding is more versatile and durable than whitening. The results can last for up to ten years, though the material can chip or get stained over time. Because it does more than just change color, bonding can cost a bit more than whitening.
However, it’s still a very affordable and quick cosmetic treatment. Fixing a single tooth usually only takes 30 to 60 minutes.
How to Choose
So, which one should you pick? The choice is simple:
- Choose teeth whitening if you’re happy with the shape of your teeth but want them to be a brighter shade.
- Choose dental bonding if you need to fix a specific flaw like a chip or a gap, or if you have a single tooth with a stain that won’t lighten with whitening.
Tooth Bonding Aftercare
The only way to make your tooth bonding treatment last is to take care of it properly. If you disregard your oral health, you won’t have good bonding results. Right after treatment, it will take time for you to adjust to your bonding material. It’s going to feel a bit odd and different in your mouth at first, but you’ll get used to it with time.
Brush your teeth at least twice a day and floss at least once a day. When you’re choosing a toothbrush, make sure you’re going for soft bristles. Hard and medium bristles are abrasive on the bonding material and can damage it.
This is also true if you’re brushing with an abrasive toothpaste or using floss sticks instead of just regular dental floss. Abrasive toothpastes include those that have activated charcoal. When you’re using mouthwash, avoid those with alcohol, as these can erode bonding material.
In your daily life, avoid directly biting down on hard foods with the bonding material. Very hard foods can chip it. You want to make sure you’re only using your teeth for their explicit purpose, too. Don’t try to tear things apart or open bottles with your teeth. This can damage both the bonding material and the natural structure. Chewing pens and biting your nails can have some effect.
Still not sure which treatment is best for your smile? The team at Hermitage Dental Clinic in Edmonton is here to help. Schedule a consultation with us today, and we’ll work with you to create a plan to achieve the smile you’ve always wanted.