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Dental Bonding – Make Your Smile Brighter


July 28th, 2009
Dental Health Magazine
Categories: Teeth
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Besides tooth whitening and porcelain veneers cosmetic treatments, there is one more widely used method to increase the look of your smile. It is called dental bonding. The main idea of it consists in reshaping and repairing small imperfections of your teeth using special, tooth-colored material. And, as any other dental procedure, teeth bonding has its advantages and disadvantages.

So, as it was written above, bonding for teeth is the process of tooth-colored material usage, mainly with cosmetic purposes. Improving the appearance of discolored teeth, closing space between them, changing their shape or making teeth look longer, are only a small part of things they are used for.

As for functional purposes, it’s necessary to mention that bonding of teeth is used for tooth decay repairing, replacing amalgam fillings, cracked or chipped teeth treatment. It is also applied when it’s needed exposed roots coverage. The last one is usually caused by gums recession.

Dental bonding treatment has become very popular because the material it uses is tooth looking like. It matches the shade, translucency and texture of your natural teeth. Besides, it provides better results than old filling methods, such as amalgam fillings. The new durable plastic material is more harmless and successful from the cosmetic point of view.

When applying bonding for teeth method, the first thing the dentist is doing it’s the debris and tartar accumulations’ cleaning. Then he chooses the right shade of the material. Local anesthesia might be used or might not. Everything depends on the whole treatment complexity and how much one or more teeth will be modified.

Firstly the dentists dry the tooth surrounding area using a cotton roll, or a latex sheet. Then the surface of the tooth is roughened and a conditioning liquid is applied. This is needed to make the bonding material adhere to the tooth. The tooth-colored resin is then applied, molded and smoothed to the shape you need.

Then a special ultraviolet light or laser is used to make the teeth bonding material become harden. After that the surface is polished or reshaped, if needed, till the natural teeth look and shape is achieved. The whole procedure takes about 30 to 60 minutes to complete a tooth treatment. Only one tooth is bonded per visit.

As for advantages, it should be mentioned that bonding of teeth is the cheapest of all cosmetic dentistry procedures. The teeth bonding cost rarely overrun the $400 limit. It can be explained by the easy and spontaneous method of their usage. There are no laboratory manufactories needed. Any dentist is considered to be able to perform a dental bonding operation.

However, one important thing is required. He should have a high level of artistic skill. And professional skills, of course, are needed. Only in this case the dentist will be able to carefully remove only a small amount of tooth enamel, applying then the necessary quantity of bonding material to the necessary place.

As for disadvantages, here you can find out that bonding for teeth uses less strong materials, in comparison with the crowns or veneers treatment procedures. It is also less resistant to stain and can break off the tooth. Even if a special care is not needed, you would better not bite hard things, especially with your front teeth.

Teeth bonding results are said to last for 3 to 10 years. A lot depends on your oral habits. Besides the already spoken low teeth bonding cost, it is usually partially covered by the insurance. Considering this, you can conclude that teeth bonding is a simple and accessible cosmetic procedure that mostly everyone can allow himself to have. So, the next step would be to consult your dentist for more, personal information.


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