Considering how effective dental crowns and veneers are at perfecting the appearance of your smile, it’s easy to overlook your third option for making cosmetic changes to your otherwise healthy teeth — dental bonding. Getting dental bonding in SW Calgary is your least invasive, quickest and most affordable alternative.
What is dental bonding?
During dental bonding, your dentist in SW Calgary applies composite resin materials to your teeth in thin layers. The composite materials are tinted to blend naturally with the colour of your teeth so that your finished teeth will not appear patchy or flawed. The resins will be hardened using a special light to cure the material. Your dentist will then shape and polish the applied material so that it blends completely naturally with your own teeth material in terms of colour, texture and shine.
What is dental bonding good for?
Dental bonding can help you to achieve a large and wide range of cosmetic dentistry changes, including:
- Filling cavities (something that is important for more than cosmetic reasons, obviously)
- To repair minor chips and cracks in your teeth
- To covers stains and discolourations on your teeth that can’t be bleached or whitened away
- To fill wide gaps between teeth
- If you have teeth that appear short, dental bonding can be used to make those teeth look longer
- To alter the shape of misshapen teeth
- If periodontal disease has caused the exposure of the roots of teeth, dental compounding can be used to cover and protect those roots. That’s also something important for more than just cosmetic reasons.
Obviously, dental bonding is a really versatile solution for a lot of cosmetic dentistry goals. That doesn’t make it the best solution for every issue. Generally, bonding is most appropriate for minor damage and cosmetic issues, short-term corrections and making changes to teeth that are not exposed to high pressure. What are the teeth that will most benefit from dental bonding? The teeth in your “smile zone” — right in front of your jaw.
The process of getting dental bonding
Getting dental bonding near you is a two-step process that typically takes approximately a half-hour to an hour per tooth. The two steps are preparation and bonding.
Dental bonding does not require significant preparation. Your dentist will show you a shade guide that contains all of the colour options for resin material. Using that guide, you and your dentist will choose the colour that will blend most naturally with your other teeth. While your dentist may offer to use anesthetic during the bonding process, it is not normally necessary. The most common exception to this is when composite bonding is being used to fill a cavity which may involve drilling into the tooth or working near a nerve.
The bonding process consists of several stages. First, your dentist will roughen the tooth to be bonded and will apply some conditioning liquid to help the composite resins grip and adhere to your tooth. The resins (in whatever colour was selected) will be applied to your tooth or teeth manually, then smoothed out to form the necessary shape and fill any gaps, cracks or chips. After the material is hardened using a curing light or laser, your dentist will perfect the shape of your tooth by trimming the compound before polishing it to match the rest of your teeth.
If you’re curious about whether dental bonding is a good alternative for the cosmetic flaws affecting your teeth, arrange an appointment at a dentist near you for their advice. Bonding is a terrific option for minor flaws. Even if it’s not the right option for achieving your goals, your dentist will provide alternative potential solutions.