Bonding is dentistry term that describes the linking of dental material to a natural tooth. Today, many dental procedures involve some form of dental bonding.
Bonding can serve as a solution for chips, gaps between the teeth, staining, crookedness or misshapen teeth.
Bonding uses composite resins or porcelain/composite veneers to cover the surface of teeth.
There are two basic bonding techniques: Composite bonding and veneer bonding.
With composite bonding, the front of the tooth is slightly reduced, a composite resin matched to the color of the surrounding teeth is applied to the tooth, contoured, set, smoothed and polished.
A veneer is made to match the color and shape of your tooth. Two options are porcelain veneers (which are generally stronger), and composite veneers (which are less expensive).
There are two bonding types: bonding for linking one surface to another, and direct bonding.
Bonding for Linking One Surface to Another
The bonding process may be used to attach a white-colored composite filling or silver amalgam filling to a natural tooth. Bonding can also be used to secure crowns as an alternative to the traditional cementing process.
Direct Bonding
With the direct bonding technique, the bonding resin material is painted on the natural tooth to fill, cover and protect the flawed area. Cracked, decayed, chipped or otherwise unattractive teeth can be repaired through direct bonding. Direct bonding may be the right choice for a minimally damaged tooth, particularly for a front tooth.
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