Bonding
HOW TO CARE FOR COSMETIC BONDING
Have a soft diet for the first 24 hours. This will allow adequate time for the material to harden.
Brush and floss daily. Plaque must be removed! When flossing, pull the floss between the teeth instead of pulling it up or down.
Do not chew on ice or bite your fingernails - the force can crack the bonding.
To prevent staining, avoid or keep to a minimum: coffee, tea, colas, grape juice, red wine, blueberries, cherries and smoking.
To avoid the possibility of a fracture, avoid biting these foods directly with your front teeth: hard candy, apples, carrots, hard bread, ribs and other meats with bones.
Have a professional cleaning by your dental hygienist 2-4 times a year. Be sure that the hygienist is aware of the bonded teeth so a special polishing paste can be used to avoid unnecessary roughening.
REPLACE UNSIGHTLY FILLINGS
Tooth-colored fillings, or mercury-free resins, can be used to replace unsightly silver or dark fillings. This gives the teeth a more natural appearance.
Bonding procedure for the back teeth takes a bit more time and costs slightly more than traditional methods, but the aesthetic results are a major plus.
Recent studies indicate that bonded fillings can restore a tooth up to 80 percent of its original integrity, because the walls of the tooth are virtually bonded together. The life expectancy of the posterior bonded resins is 3-6 years.
Advances in dental materials sciences have given us a
new approach to an old problem -- broken, strained, or
discolored front teeth. In a relatively simple procedure,
a composite resin or porcelain material is added directly
to the roughened enamel surface of the tooth. Often no
anesthetic is required. Bonding can be used to close gaps
or spaces between teeth or to make crowded teeth appear
straight. Cosmetic dentistry can have an impact on a
person's smile that is like magic. Because of these
beautiful results, we enjoy this part of dentistry the very most.
