restore your smile
With Bonding & Shaping
If you have misshapen teeth, stained teeth, gaps in your smile, or minor chips in your teeth, dental bonding & shaping in Fort Mill from Dr. Leah Luck may be what you need to restore your smile and your confidence. Learn more about our Fort Mill cosmetic dentistry treatment below, or contact us online to schedule a consultation today.
Cover Up Imperfections
dental bonding
Dental bonding uses a special type of tooth-colored resin to restore your smile and cover up imperfections. This resin is applied directly to the tooth after it’s been prepared, and is shaped to cover up chips in the tooth, fill gaps between teeth, reshape misshapen teeth, and treat severe stains that can’t be treated with teeth whitening.
Bonding can be applied to one tooth or several teeth, and restores the shape and appearance of each one, ensuring that your smile looks completely natural. It requires no special maintenance, either, so you can maintain your normal oral hygiene routine.
Get A move Ever Smile
tooth shaping
Tooth shaping, also called “shaping & contouring” or “enameloplasty” involves using a specialized sanding tool to gently remove very thin layers of enamel from a few of your teeth. This corrects cosmetic imperfections like minor chips, pointed teeth, and uneven teeth, providing you with a more appealing smile.
Tooth shaping is minimally-invasive and does not affect the strength of your teeth. It’s often done alongside bonding to completely restore the appearance of your smile and ensure the best possible results.
What to expect
From Bonding & Shaping
After your dentist in Fort Mill approves you for treatment, you will come in for your appointment. She will clean your teeth and use a mild acid to etch the teeth that will be bonded, roughening the surface to prepare for the application of the resin.
Then, she will apply resin that matches the color of your teeth, and sculpt and shape it until your tooth has been restored. The resin will be hardened using UV light, and further refined and trimmed to ensure the tooth looks and feels completely natural. This process will be repeated if you’re having multiple teeth treated.
If you’re having teeth shaping as well, this is usually done in the same appointment. Dr. Luck will gently sand away imperfections from your teeth, leaving you with a beautiful and even smile.
The Benefits of
Bonding & Shaping
Bonding & shaping is non-invasive, and does not require you to be numbed during treatment, though we still offer numbing and sedation for those who may be anxious about getting dental care.
These treatments are also quite inexpensive, especially when compared to veneers, which are a more costly option. Bonding & shaping can be used to restore your smile, even if you’re on a tight budget.
Bonding is also reversible. Unlike veneers, which require the removal of a layer of enamel from your teeth and are not reversible, dental bonding can be removed in the future if you ever wish to get veneers, or if you want to remove the bonding material for any other reason.
How long does
Bonding last?
It’s common for dental bonding to last between 5-7 years for most people, but with proper oral hygiene and care, your newly-bonded teeth could last up to 10 years or more. To keep your new smile in good shape, it’s important to brush twice a day, floss once a day, and to see Dr. Luck for a teeth cleaning and checkup every six months.
In addition to this, you need to avoid any habits that could damage your natural teeth or your bonded teeth. For example, you should chew very hard foods like nuts and popcorn kernels with your rear teeth, and you should not chew non-food items (fingernails, pens, pencils). This can damage your natural teeth and your bonded teeth.
In addition, you should never use your teeth for anything besides chewing food. For example, don’t try to pull out a cork, tear open a bag, or rip tape using your teeth. These kinds of habits can damage and dislodge your bonding or harm your natural teeth.
Does bonding
ruin your teeth?
Not at all! In fact, dental bonding does not cause any serious alterations or changes to your tooth structure at all, in contrast to other cosmetic dentistry treatments like veneers.
Veneers require about 0.5mm of enamel to be removed from each tooth that’s receiving a veneer. But this type of tooth preparation is not needed with dental bonding, and no drilling is required. Before your procedure, Dr. Luck will simply apply a very mild acid to roughen your teeth. Then, she will apply the bonding resin. No further preparation is needed.
This means that, if you want, you can always have your dental bonding removed to reverse the procedure. However, this is quite rare, and is usually only done if you decide you want an alternative treatment like porcelain veneers. Most patients will keep their bonded teeth, and simply have the bonding material replaced as they wear down over time.
is Bonding
or veneers better?
This really depends on the specifics of your situation, your budget, and your preferences. Both veneers and dental bonding are excellent choices to restore your smile, and have their own pros and cons.
Dental bonding does not permanently alter your teeth, is affordable, and takes only a single appointment to restore your smile. However, it’s not as durable, long-lasting, or stain-resistant as porcelain veneers.
In contrast, veneers are more expensive and have a more complex and time-consuming placement process, and they require permanent removal of some of your tooth enamel. But they last a lot longer, are completely stain-resistant, and are usually stronger compared to dental bonding.
For more information and to find out which treatment is right for you, just contact Luck Family Dental for an appointment with Dr. Leah Luck. She can discuss the pros and cons of bonding and veneers in more detail, give you an estimate for your overall treatment cost, and help you find out which cosmetic dentistry treatment may be right for your specific situation.