All about composite bonding

Composite bonding is a dental technique used to treat imperfections in patient's teeth, both for medical and cosmetic reasons. In this article, leading dentist and facial aesthetician Dr Anne Gormley offers her expert insight into this popular procedure.

What is composite bonding of teeth?

Composite bonding has probably been around for the last 30 or 40 years. What's changed in recent times in the quality of material that we use to put on the teeth. Essentially, it's where you put a white filling material over the front teeth, usually to change the shape and quite often to change the colour of the teeth. 

What has changed in more recent times is that the material now is every bit as cosmetic as it used to be, but it's stronger, it's more durable and needs less polishing. It looks much more like a natural tooth. 

In the past, composite bonding and the composite veneers would have roughened and picked up stains a lot more quickly than they do today. I suppose it's a super treatment in that it's reasonably priced and it's also very versatile, and a lot of patients decide to go for that treatment, for that reason.  

What is the purpose of composite bonding?

It's possible to use it in all sorts of situations.

For different aesthetic requirements

Probably one of the most obvious is where you have a gap between teeth, between a diastema between your front teeth. It's also very useful if your teeth aren't the shape that you want them to be. Maybe they're too rounded and you'd like them to be more rectangular. And also, more and more to change the colour of the teeth, as the technology being used on them is unbelievable and is able to produce a much lighter shades, including bleaching shades. 

Durability

And as I say, they're incredibly durable. They're really used mainly for your anterior teeth to change the smile to something that's better than what you currently have. It's also used in posterior teeth but we wouldn't recognised that as composite bonding or composite veneers. They're generally used on your anterior teeth. 

What is the process of composite bonding?

With composite bonding, we probably in most cases do a little bit of roughening of the surface of the teeth in order to improve the attachment of the material. We etch and bond the teeth, which really means we put a very flowable material over the teeth that produces tags into the enamel of the tooth and then on top of that, we put our composite material in the shade and shape that we want the tooth to look like. Obviously, what we do is we build up the teeth one by one to the shape and colour that's requested. 

How long does composite bonding last?

Composite bonding can last for years. It obviously dependent on how the patient looks after it. If they drink a lot of acidic drinks, the material will dissolve away. It isn't as strong as the enamel of your teeth, so it will wear away if the patient doesn't look after it appropriately. 

Taking care of composite bonding

Also it's important to look after gums to ensure that there isn't damage at the gum margin through decay. A lot of it is dependent on how the patient looks after it, but in a normal patient who cares for their teeth, I'd probably say it can last many years. 

What I would suggest, is that from time to time they're going to have to come back. I describe it like a wooden floor that from time to time you'll want to sand and polish it; bring it back a bit and then polish it up to renew and refresh the look.

Is composite bonding painful?

There's very little pain, if anything. Occasionally, you might need to remove enamel between the teeth to create a better contact, a better angle, between the teeth. 

I suppose you could say that it might be a little bit uncomfortable when you do that. If your gums are healthy, that probably won't be the case.

Apart from that, it's done without a local anaesthetic and I'd suggest that it's relative unpainful. 

If you'd like to arrange an appointment with Dr Gormley, you can do so via her Top Doctors profile.