Question:

I have had "bonding" on my two top front teeth for many years now as I chipped them badly in primary school. To be honest I don't even know what "bonding" is. Could you explain? It seems they just "built up" and capped my teeth with something.

I have never liked my teeth since, they were never the right shade and now as the years have passed I can see and feel around the top of the teeth, near the gum, that the "bonding" is starting to chip, and it is more stained.

I wondered what can be done these days instead of "bonding", if anything, if I ever need to get it redone. And can they remove the current bonding?

Answer:

Bonding essentially refers to the building up or re-contouring of teeth utilising composite resin material. Composite resin is the material we use for white fillings and consists of finely ground glass and silica particles in a resin matrix. The process of bonding involves sculpting the composite resin material directly onto the tooth surface.

One of the limitations of composite bonding is that the physical properties of this plastic material are unlike the tooth's structure and as a consequence is prone to flaking and "peeling" at the margins where they join onto the tooth. Also, being essentially a plastic material, composite is less resistant to wear and degradation in the oral environment than enamel or porcelain.

Your situation seems ideally suited to restoration with porcelain veneers. Porcelain veneers are custom-made thin laminates of porcelain that are bonded to the front surface of the teeth, and are used to rebuild, reshape and or recolour teeth.

Porcelain veneers are the state of the art in cosmetic dentistry and are highly aesthetic and highly durable restorations. Veneers are also highly technique-sensitive, so make sure you go to a dentist who has extensive experience with porcelain veneers and make sure you get to see some before and after shots of their work before proceeding.

To see the fantastic results that can be obtained from having porcelain veneers, check out these before and after shots...

Before

After

For more information please visit Dr Angelo Lazaris's website.