Dental bonding is one of the simplest & most versatile restorative treatments that we offer. If you have a tooth that is slightly chipped, cracked or decayed, we can use a resin to cover or rebuild the damaged areas.

Bonding also functions as a cosmetic treatment to fill gaps, reshape teeth & fix discoloration. In some cases, it is used instead of amalgam fillings or even to protect tooth roots.

The material used in bonding is a putty-like plastic composite resin. Once it has been sculpted onto the teeth, it is then hardened. We can easily customize the color of the bonding resin to match the exact color of your tooth enamel for a seamless look.

Our skilled team can help determine if dental bonding is the best way to restore your smile. Call us today to schedule a consultation.

What Is Dental Bonding?

Limitations of Bonding

Composite resin lacks the durability that veneers & crowns have. If you have a majorly damaged tooth or need a longer-lasting solution, bonding may not be your best option. Veneers & crowns are also more resistant to staining.

While bonding can be used for small gaps, it is not a replacement for orthodontic treatment. Crooked teeth & most bite problems can only be resolved by shifting your teeth with braces or other orthodontic appliances.

Bonded teeth do not respond well to whitening, so getting your teeth whitened after a bonding treatment may create a color mismatch between your original teeth and the bonded tooth. It’s a better idea to get a teeth whitening first so we can use a brighter, whiter resin to match your shiny new smile.

Caring For Bonded Teeth

If you’ve had trouble with most or some of your teeth throughout your life, you may sometimes wish that you could hit reset & start over with a brand new mouth. Achieving that reset is the goal of full mouth rehabilitation, though it isn’t quite as easy as hitting a button.

Patients’ motivation for getting a complete mouth rehabilitation is usually twofold: they want to look better but also feel better too. Missing teeth & oral pain can be a constant drain on your feelings of well-being & may even limit the foods you eat. With a restored smile, our hope is that you’ll be able to enjoy many of your favorite foods again.

Perhaps the best moment in a complete mouth rehabilitation is when a patient sees their restored smile for the first time. Many patients report an immediate boost in self confidence & self esteem. We love seeing that genuine new smile reveal itself for the first time, especially in patients who have been avoiding smiling or hiding their true smiles for years. A complete mouth rehabilitation may feel like a long road, but we have had patients tell us that the journey is worth the destination. If you would like to completely restore your smile, please contact us to schedule a consultation.

What Is Full Mouth Rehabilitation?

Rather than a single procedure, full mouth rehabilitation involves addressing multiple problems using a variety of treatments. We can attempt to completely restore the health, function & aesthetics of your mouth using all of the tools, technologies & techniques available to us.

For example, a patient may get a combination of crowns & bridges to replace & strengthen teeth, while another patient could do a combination of clear aligners & veneers. The combinations of potential treatments your rehabilitation may include are nearly endless as every case is entirely customized.

Procedure Overview

Every full mouth rehabilitation starts with a consultation visit. If you are an existing client, we will already have records of your latest x-rays & your dental exams. If you are a new client, you may need to have an exam appointment where we’ll also take updated x-rays. At your consult, we’ll discuss your current dental condition, as well as your goals for your final result.

Next, we will assemble a treatment plan that details which procedures will be needed to achieve our goals. This treatment plan will also act as a timeline & a budget estimate. During a complete mouth rehabilitation, not all the procedures will happen right away. To accommodate your comfort & healing times, we may space out treatments over several days, weeks, or months. This will also allow time for any custom appliances or replacement teeth to be fabricated, either by us or a dental laboratory.

We all know the best way to keep your teeth bright & white is to brush your teeth twice a day, floss at least once a day & see your dentist every six months for your regular cleaning appointments. Unfortunately, try as you may, your pearly whites may not always be so pearly & white.

While age & genetics do factor into dark or yellow teeth, our health choices make a significant impact. Generally speaking, your diet & oral hygiene are the most important determiners of your tooth color. Beverages like tea, coffee & red wine tend to stain teeth the most. In addition to all of the other health problems it causes, tobacco is one of the biggest reasons for stained & yellow, brown or even gray teeth.

If you want your teeth to be “pearly whites” again, your best bet is to talk to your dentist about teeth whitening. If you have tried over-the-counter whitening kits & been disappointed, you will have better results with either in-office or take-home teeth whitening.

What Is Teeth Whitening?

When it comes to improving the appearance of your smile, teeth whitening is one of the easiest ways to make a significant difference. Over time, teeth can become discolored due to aging, genetics, the foods we eat, or smoking. This discoloration can be reversed using teeth whitening, which penetrates into the hard outer layer of teeth, called enamel, & breaks up the compounds that cause stains.

What you consume can play a major role in the color of your teeth. Coffee, tea, cola, red wine & tobacco smoke are a few well-known culprits behind teeth stains.

In-Office Teeth Whitening

While whitening toothpastes & drugstore kits can help keep your teeth bright, teeth whitening from a dentist will make the fastest & most significant difference in your smile. Because we are authorized to use a more powerful form of peroxide, we can make your teeth several shades whiter in around an hour! If you have a formal occasion around the corner & don’t have time to wait for a shinier smile, our in-office whitening is a great option.

Am I A Good Candidate For In-Office Teeth Whitening?

Not all patients are candidates for in-office teeth whitening. If you have been diagnosed with gum disease or have sensitive teeth, the stronger peroxides used in the dental office can aggravate your condition. You may be better off with a custom take-home whitening kit that is designed to avoid contact with your gums & has a lower concentration of peroxide.

Whitening is not effective for all people. Patients with crowns, veneers & bonded teeth cannot have those restorations whitened. Likewise, teeth stained brown or gray are much less likely to respond well to whitening than those with yellow teeth. In these cases, veneers or crowns can be a good alternative to whitening.

Procedure Overview

• The first step of a professional teeth whitening appointment is recording your pretreatment teeth color. This will help you see just how effective your whitening is.
• Next, the dentist needs to protect your lips, tongue & gums from the whitening agent. The concentrated whitening chemicals available to dentists are more likely to irritate or damage these body parts if they come into direct contact with them. For their protection, your gums will be covered with a rubber dam or a liquid that hardens & can be removed later. The dentist will also insert a cheek retractor, which spreads your lips apart in order to expose your teeth & distance them from your lips & cheeks.
• Once the soft tissues of your mouth & face are protected, the peroxide whitening gel is applied to your teeth. We will do this in a few 15- to 30-minute cycles & check the progress between each application. The entire appointment lasts approximately an hour to an hour & a half.
• When the dentist is finished, they will note your post-treatment tooth color & determine how many shades it changed. If necessary, you will receive a set of take-home whitening trays to maintain the color of your new smile.

You may notice your teeth losing some of their whiteness a couple days after an in-office teeth whitening. This is a normal reaction. The color change happens as your teeth recover from dehydration during the whitening process.

Call us today to see if teeth whitening is right for you.

Take-Home Teeth Whitening

If you have tried over-the-counter whitening kits & been disappointed, you will have better results with one of our custom whitening trays. Our trays are made from impressions of your teeth, so they fit comfortably & securely. Since they are made to fit your mouth, they can also cover all the spots store-bought whitening kits tend to miss. Over-the-counter products also tend to leak whitening gel & rub against your gums, causing gum irritation or pain.

Am I A Good Candidate For Take-Home Teeth Whitening?

Not everyone can benefit from our take-home teeth whitening. Some stains can’t be fixed with whitening gel. For example, discoloration from a root canal cannot be whitened because it starts inside of the tooth rather than on the outer enamel. Stains on crowns, veneers or bonded teeth will not respond to whitening treatments. New crowns & veneers are an alternative option for teeth that cannot be whitened with peroxide.

Procedure Overview

Getting a custom teeth whitening tray is simple.

• We will use a special kind of putty to make a mold of your teeth.
• A dental lab will use these impressions to make your plastic trays, which are flexible & designed to slide over your teeth.
• When your tray is ready, the dentist will choose a peroxide whitening gel that best fits your needs. There are different strengths of whitening gel available. Stronger gels can yield quicker results but are more likely to cause side effects, including sensitive teeth & gum irritation.
• The rest of the process is in your hands. You will need to squirt the gel into the trays & wear them for around two to four hours every day. The dentist can advise you on the right amount of time for you.
• This treatment normally lasts for two to four weeks. In most cases, you should notice whiter teeth within the first two weeks. If you notice any side effects, including tooth sensitivity & irritated or painful gums, stop your treatment & call us right away.

Unsatisfied with how your teeth look? Teeth that are chipped, stained or misshapen can take away from an otherwise beautiful smile. Veneers can rejuvenate your lackluster teeth & transform your smile.

Having a great smile can make a huge difference in the way you look & feel. We offer a complete range of cosmetic dentistry treatments to create the confident smile you’ve always wanted. We begin with a detailed smile assessment, discussing with you which aspects you like & dislike about your smile. Once our assessment is complete, we will discuss with you treatment options to help your smile look more natural, healthy & youthful.

What Are Dental Veneers?

Veneers are the most conservative restorations we offer. They consist of a thin strip of porcelain that covers the front side of a tooth. We use porcelain because we can change the color to closely match your natural teeth. Unlike crowns, which cover the entirety of a tooth, veneers require less enamel removal, so most of your original tooth structure stays intact. Rather than replacing your whole tooth, a veneer gives your tooth a “new face.” Because they are minimally invasive, dental veneers are essential tools of cosmetic dentistry.

Getting a veneer requires at least two appointments. At the first appointment, the dentist prepares your tooth so a veneer can be placed. A couple weeks later, they will permanently attach the veneer to your tooth.

Procedure Overview

• A dental veneer procedure begins with the dentist removing a very small amount of your front tooth enamel (usually less than one millimeter). Depending on how much enamel needs to be removed, this process may not require local anesthesia. Veneers bond more easily with the outer tooth structure than the inner tooth structure, so the dentist wants to remove as little as possible. They use a rotating device known as a dental bur to gently shave down some of the tooth’s surface.
• After the tooth is shaved down, we need to take an impression (or mold) of your teeth. We send this impression to a lab so they can make a veneer that comfortably fits your smile. To expose more of your tooth for the impression, the dentist uses a small retraction cord to move the gums away from it. This is temporary; your gum line returns to its original position once the impression is complete. The final step is to bite into a tray filled with paste to a make a mold of your teeth. This takes a few minutes to set, so be patient!
• When the mold is ready, we make any final adjustments & send it to a dental lab. It takes a couple weeks to receive your permanent veneer from the lab. In the meantime, you may receive a temporary veneer to cover the prepared tooth. This is not necessary in all cases. Temporaries are only needed if the dentist must remove a large amount of enamel, which can make your tooth more sensitive or prone to damage.
• At your last appointment, we attach your personalized veneer. The dentist may need to make adjustments so the veneer looks good & feels right. If you have any concerns about the look & feel of your smile at this stage in the process, please feel free to tell us! We want to make sure you are satisfied with the result.
• Once any last-minute trimming & refitting is finished, the dentist coats your tooth with bonding cement & attaches the veneer to your tooth. Then they use a special blue light to harden the cement & secure the veneer. After one final check to make sure the fit is still snug & comfy, you’re good to go!

Call us to find out how veneers can beautify your smile.