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Dental Bonding Looks Terrible

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My daughter, who is eleven years old, had a accident. The result was that it broke out the middle of the tooth where it looks like she has an empty picture frame with some pieces missing. Our family dentist suggested to repair it with dental bonding. The bonding was horrible. It’s uneven to the point of being lumpy. It’s also too short. I don’t know what to do. She’s devastated and I don’t blame her. Is there a way to fix this?

Amanda

Dear Amanda,

Before and After dental bonding

I’m sorry this happened to your daughter. I know she is distressed. As you can see from the image above, dental bonding can be done beautifully as well as blend naturally to the remainder of the tooth structure.

The good news is that this can be fixed. However, it will require a different dentist. Dental bonding is an advanced cosmetic dentistry procedure that has to be done freehand. Very few family dentists invest in the post-doctoral training necessary to do cosmetic bonding. They have some bonding experience from fillings, but that does not qualify them for what your daughter needs.

More good news. I’m relieved that your dentist did not recommend dental crowns for your daughter. Many inexperienced cosmetic dentists would have done that. However, the pulp of a child your daughter’s age is very large. Doing a crown on them would likely kill the pulp and require a root canal treatment. Secondly, the tooth is still erupting. that means the margin would be exposed not only making it obvious she’s wearing a crown but put her at risk for decay.

My suggestion is that you ask for a refund on the bonding. Hopefully, he has the integrity to realize his work was subpar and not want to damage the self-esteem of a child. Then, you need to look for a dentist who has invested in post-doctoral cosmetic training. As an added precaution, I would recommend that you also take a peek at their smile gallery. You want to see what type of results they get with their work. If you don’t love it, find someone else. If they don’t have a smile gallery, then they do not do enough cosmetic work for you to even consider them.

This blog is brought to you by Duluth, GA Dentist Dr. David Marion.

Fixing a Broken Lower Front Tooth

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I fell during a track meet and broke part of my lower front tooth. It’s a small chip, but it is a bit ragged and hurts my lip. My dentist tried repairing it but the bonding (what I think they called it) just keeps falling off. My mother doesn’t think there is anything else they can do. I’m hoping there is some new medicine or technology that can just help the tooth regrow. Do you know of any new things?

Amaya

Dear Amaya,

Images before and after a dental bonding repair.

The problem you are facing is that the edges of the bottom teeth hit the upper incisal edges every time you close your mouth. While a bonding repair is the correct repair for a chipped tooth it requires the dentist to know about occlusion. This takes post-doctoral training and not many dentists invest in this training.

This can be repaired with either composite bonding or with porcelain veneers. The problem you are up against is that you need an expert cosmetic dentist to do the work. When done right, it will not fall off and your mother will not have to keep taking you back and forth to the dentist to get it placed back on.

If you can, either you or your mother should look for a dentist who has studied at one of these schools:

  • The Dawson Academy
  • The Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies
  • The Pankey Institute

There are others, but these are three great ones that have special training in both TMJ Disorder and occlusion. Then, you’ll need to take the additional step of looking at their smile gallery to see what type of cosmetic work they do. Look at both bonding and porcelain veneer cases. You’ll want them to be something you find beautiful.

I hope this helps you.

This blog is brought to you by Duluth, GA Dentist Dr. David Marion.

Should I Buy Dental Veneers Online?

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I want to fix my discolored and uneven teeth. My dentist is suggesting doing  bonding on the ten top teeth for $2000. My concern is that I had a chipped tooth that I had my dentist fix with composite bonding a few years ago. It looked pretty bad and the new part of the tooth with the composite did not match the rest of the tooth. I’m still stuck with this and am worried that the rest of my teeth will be problematic if he does it. I spoke with him about porcelain veneers instead and that is pretty pricey. I can get them online a lot cheaper. Would that be the better option for me?

Breanna

Dear Breanna,

Before and After Dental Bonding repairing a chipped tooth

First, do not do the composite bonding, even though it is cheaper. I’ll get to the online veneers in a moment. When composite dental bonding is done correctly, then the results can look perfectly natural, as seen above. However, it has to be done by a dentist with the right training and skills. Both porcelain veneers and dental bonding are advanced dental procedures that require post-doctoral training. It does not sound like your dentist has this training.

Usually dental bonding when done over the full surface of the tooth, as your procedure would need would cost a LOT more than your dentist is asking because it has to be done freehand and would need more chair time. This gives me additional concerns about his skill level or understanding of the procedure. You didn’t mention the porcelain veneers price, but I would expect them to be quite expensive as well.

If you get online veneers, the one thing you will have going for you is that they are removable if you hate them. These do not get permanently bonded on your teeth the way porcelain veneers done by a skilled cosmetic dentist will be. These are not really made out of porcelain either. These online veneers are usually made of acrylic and do not look like natural teeth. They’re better suited to a photo shoot or a one night event.  If you want a beautiful smile, this is not the way to go. If you want something okay that you can pop in and out, this will do just fine.

If a gorgeous smile is what you ultimately desire, I suggest starting with teeth whitening. Bear in mind, the chip you had repaired will not whiten with the remainder of your teeth. It sounds like that needed to be redone anyway, which leads me to the second thing I want to suggest. Find a truly skilled cosmetic dentist. They can repair your bonding. Then, find out how much they charge for porcelain veneers. It will be expensive, but the teeth whitening will dramatically improve your smile and give you time to save up for any further work you may want done.

This blog is brought to you by Duluth, GA Dentist Dr. David Marion.