What Is Dental Bonding?

Tooth bonding, done by a professional aesthetic dentist, can get your teeth in perfect shape within a few sittings. Here is a little more about what dental bonding is and what it can do to your smile.
 

Instant veneers or dental laminates are made of a composite tooth-colored material, which can be stuck or bonded directly onto the tooth surface. The entire appearance of the tooth structure can be changed to make them appear more aesthetically appealing. Trained aesthetic dentists can really tweak your smile in a few hours of time. Your dentist will evaluate each case individually and will let you know the dental bonding cost and the time required for the procedure.
 

What does dental tooth bonding involve?

First, the dentist will evaluate your case with a detailed medical history and an oral checkup. You will then be informed whether you need direct or indirect bonding. The direct bonding procedure may require a local anesthetic, but it’s not always necessary. The dentist may carry out color matching on your tooth surface to ensure that he has the right shade.

Once the correct shade is selected, he will isolate the tooth surface, and then start building the new tooth surface. He will create mechanical retention tags on the surface by etching the surface of the tooth with phosphoric acid. A bonding agent or adhesive is then applied, which will allow the composite material to stick better to the tooth surface. To get the best color, the dentist will build the surface with two or three different layers. Once the layers are complete, the material is then set, buffed, and polished. It may take two to three sittings to get the ideal tooth bonding shape, but the amount of time differs from case to case.

A few dentists may also use custom-made ceramic inlays and veneers, which will look much more natural. These are referred to as indirect bonding techniques. However, these take a longer time to fabricate and are much more expensive. Not every dentist is trained to do ceramic inlays and veneers though; so do check before you start the process.
 

The exact dental bonding cost will differ from patient to patient. The composite material that is used is relatively expensive, and the process is technique sensitive. A trained aesthetic dentist can create wonderful results, which will last for a long time. The exact dental bonding cost is calculated depending on the teeth that that are bonded as well as the end result. Direct bonding is cheaper compared to indirect bonding. Bonding can also be useful for those who want to remove older dental amalgam fillings. This is because older silver fillings can look really bad as they get discolored over time. In such patients, dental amalgam is removed and composite material is refilled in same cavities.