Tooth Bonding: A Dental Restoration Overview

Tooth-bonding is a procedure that is used to bond the application of the tooth-colored resin material using adhesives. These tooth-bonding procedures are used using highly-intense curing lights. The procedure bonds the restorative piece to the tooth. Bonding is usually used for aesthetic purposes such as to fix various problems like chipped teeth or discoloration. These tools can also be used to help close gaps between teeth or to change the shape or color of the teeth as well. These same devices could protect the portion of the tooth that may become exposed when gums recede. Bondings can be considered to help fix many issues including repairing tooth decay, repair chip/cracked teeth, improve the appearance of discolored teeth, close spaces between teeth, to make teeth look longer, change the shape of your teeth, as an alternative to amalgram fillings, or to protect unexposed parts of the root of the tooth that is exposed when the gum begins to recede. Dental bonding takes little-to-no preparation, and the use of anesthetic is not necessary to do this procedure unless the bonding is filling a decayed tooth. Your dentists’ goal will be to match the closest color and shade of the rest of your teeth. There are two types of bonding and one is direct composite bonding which is a process where the dentist use tooth-colored composites that they have in their offices to fill cavities, repair chips/cracks in teeth, close gaps in the teeth, or to build up worn-edges around the teeth. These composite materials may also be directly and sculpted to the surfaces of the teeth that will prominently when you smile for minimally invasive procedures. These are also known as having “bonding” procedures done. The other type of bonding is an adhesive bond which is commonly used for things like esthetic crowns, porcelain veneers, bridges, and inlays/overlays. After your dentist has chosen a color that matches your teeth. The dentist will have to rough up the surface of the teeth before using gentle phosphoric acid solution and after the roughing agent is removed there will be a bonding agent applied and it will be hardened on there after the bonding is done. This is done with an ultraviolet light that hardens as the light is shone on it. The pros of dental bonding are not expensive compared to other procedures in the dental industries and can be done in a short office visit unless many teeth are involved. Compared to veneers and crowns this requires little to no removal of tooth enamel and most procedures require no anesthesia. The cons of the dental bonding procedures can include that the dental bonding materials used are not as strong as your original teeth in many cases and so chewing on things like pen caps or fingernails or even ice cubes can cause problems if the material is chipped. These may not even last a few years before the bondings need repaired which can mean more appointments, but these procedures are not as invasive as the crowns, veneers, and/or fillings. Bondings can only fix some problems though and some dentists see it as a small cosmetic procedure, but not things that can fix major problems. Sometimes bondings can cause lower pressure in biting power and cause problems with people being able to chew food well. A consultation with your dentist can determine if the problem can be solved with the bonding procedure, or if the procedure needs to be something a little more invasive than bonding. The dentist will also discuss other risk like the tooth chipping or cracking or having other issues and possibly needing bonding a gain in the future to see if this is the right move for you. The teeth will be required to be taken extra care of to ensure you are not choosing to chew on things like fingernails or ice cubes. You can expect to pay $100 to $400 per tooth for the procedure to be done.