Composite Bonding

Benefits:
• Composite bonding is a fantastic way to improve your smile on its own as a stand-alone treatment or after orthodontic treatment.
• It involves the placement of white filling material at the tips or edges of your teeth to alter the shape and profile, thus enhancing your smile.
• The composite is colour matched to your existing teeth, however it is usually a good idea to have tooth whitening prior to its placement. This usually takes 2 weeks in most cases.
• It is very conservative as it does not involve the removal of healthy tooth tissue.
• Usually composite bonding does not involve any injections with local anaesthetic.
• Composite bonding will help to improve your envelope of function.

Risks:
• Composite may stain over time, but it is very easy to repolish.
• Your diet and oral hygiene must be good, otherwise risk of decay increases.
• If you grind your teeth at night composite may ‘chip’ or fracture and you may require a night guard or B-splint to protect the restorations.
• If the composite chips or fractures, it can be easily repaired.
• Composite bonding may initially affect your speech and chewing but this will settle down quite quickly.

Usually in select complex cases, a mock-up of your teeth by our laboratory using wax on a stone model can help you see the intended result and helps the placement of the material for a more accurate result, but as an alternative this can be placed free hand in easier cases. It is always ideal to wait 2-3 weeks after tooth whitening to carry out composite bonding as this will allow the teeth to reach a stable colour.
Long-term, a retainer can also help maintain the teeth in their current position and preserve the life of the composite bonding.
If treating the tips of your bottom teeth, the composite will be placed ‘high’ and a space will occur between the back teeth, however this is usually fine as the space closes and the bite adjusts within a few days, though it can take a few months in a small number of patients.

Composite is a very good short to medium term solution as it is a non-invasive treatment – the usual life span is 5-7 years; however it is possible that after this time the composite may need to be repaired or replaced with new composite. During replacement an alternative restoration can be chosen as discussed below.

Some patients do prefer a more robust restoration in the form of a veneer or crown; however this is less conservative than composite bonding as it involves the removal of tooth structure to create space for the restorations.
If you have any further questions or queries, please contact the practice.

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