Bonding

This is a case we did recently. It is an example of what can be done esthetically with dental composite filling material.

This patient had small, upper, lateral incisors (see blue arrows). She recently had braces done to straighten her teeth. The orthodontist purposely left some space so that we can add filling material to her teeth to make the sizes more ideal for esthetics.

Before and After Photos:

“Bonding” as a lay term, usually refers to the addition of composite filling material to teeth to change the appearance of the teeth. This is what we did on this case. As a technical term, it specifically refers to the process where a material is chemically affixed to a tooth. Other materials such as porcelain can also be bonded to teeth.

Benefits of composite bonded restorations, as opposed to ceramic veneers, are:

• When working on an isolated tooth, it is easier to color match. (Porcelain veneers would be the more esthetic option if we were veneering 4 or more teeth.)
• It usually does not require the teeth to be prepped/shaped prior to placement.
• It is less expensive than ceramics such as porcelain veneers.

The patient, my assistant, and I were all happy with the result. Doing it this way is a fully reversible procedure (because the teeth were not prepped) and if the patient desires to change these in the future (e.g. to ceramic veneers), the possibility remains. These usually have good durability. They are not as strong as ceramics and will break down with time, but I have seen cases where they stayed for decades. Color stability of composite filling material is better today too than earlier composite materials so we don’t see as much darkening of the materials as we did in the past.

— Ken Wylie, DMD