If you are looking to change the way your teeth look, whether you want them longer, differently shaped or are correcting more than one minor imperfection, you may wonder whether to choose dental bonding or veneer treatment, and what both entail. Both can help improve your smile, but each has its own advantages and disadvantages which should be weighed by you and your dentist before deciding upon a treatment.
Dental Bonding
Dental bonding is a fast, easy, affordable, and non-invasive dental treatment that can improve the size, shape, texture, and color of your teeth. It consists of adding a composite resin material to your teeth. With this material you can reshape your teeth, fill-in pits, cover imperfections, restore broken or chipped teeth, and whiten your teeth all in a single visit. Briefly, the steps to dental bonding include:
- Preparing the tooth by applying an etching liquid
- Adding the composite resin material
- Shaping and sculpting the composite
- Curing (hardening) the composite
Dental Veneers
Dental veneers are a more costly, minimally invasive treatment that takes two visits to complete. Dental veneers are often the treatment of choice if you have more than one dental imperfection that you want corrected. For instance, if your teeth are pitted and too short, dental veneers can fix both issues with one treatment. Also, if you need to improve several or all of your teeth rather than just one or a few. In brief, dental veneers require:
- The preparation of the teeth by removing .5mm of tooth structure to accommodate the thickness of the veneer
- Impressions are taken and sent to the lab
- After the veneers are custom fabricated they are permanently bonded to the front of the patient’s teeth
