How Often Should Dental Bonding Be Replaced?

What Is Dental Bonding?

It is a procedure in dentistry that concerns repairing and rebuilding tooth structures. Dental bonding employs composite, a putty-like tooth-colored resin sturdy enough to restore teeth.

How Does Dental Bonding Work?

Dental bonding in Trafalgar entails masking damaged teeth with composite resin. The dentist will first roughen the tooth surface with a conditioning liquid. Roughening helps the adhesion process, ensuring that the composite material bonds well to the natural tooth structure.

After roughening the tooth, the dentist near you will apply the composite resin over your tooth. The application should be simple and quick since the composite is in a putty-like state. The goal is to contour the resin to alter the shape and size of a tooth relative to the underlying flaw.

Dentists use lasers to harden the composite resin and strengthen the bond between your tooth and the resin. After hardening, the dentist near you will trim off any excess material before polishing the tooth to finish the procedure.

Why Would You Need Dental Bonding?

In many cases, dental bonding is a cosmetic procedure for elevating a smile’s appearance. However, composite bonding can serve many roles in your oral cavity, including the following:

• Treating cavities – dentists can use dental bonding near you to repair decayed teeth. Composites are an alternative to metal-based dental fillings like amalgams.
• For chipped, cracked, and broken teeth – instead of a tooth extraction, you can mask your tooth fractures with composite bonding.
• Teeth whitening – cosmetic dentists have used dental bonding severally to hide stubborn stains for patients who do not want to bleach their enamels.
• Teeth contouring – anomalies with the shape of your teeth can affect your smile’s aesthetics. Composite bonding can reshape teeth to alter their shapes and sizes. The dentist can correct issues concerning crooked teeth, oddly short teeth, pointy teeth, or worn down teeth.

How Long Does Dental Bonding Last?

For a procedure that takes about 45 minutes to complete, one may wonder whether it lasts past a year. The good news is that dental bonding near you will serve you between 5 and 10 years. Ultimately, your dental care measures post-procedure will dictate the longevity of your composites. Some patients have kept their teeth intact for 15 years without retreatment.

However, you must acknowledge that composites are not the sturdiest materials in dentistry. Therefore, even with good oral care, you may need retreatment after a short period. During your routine dental checkups at Indian Creek Family Dentistry, your attending dentist will help you know when you need to replace your composite teeth.

Why Do You Need Retreatment to Replace Dental Bonding?

Every patient who benefits from composite bonding eventually needs retreatment to replace the composites. The reasons for retreatment are:

• Chips, cracks, and breaks – composites are not as strong as natural teeth. Therefore, eating hard foods and having bad oral habits can fracture them.
• Discoloration – composite does not resist stains as well as porcelain or natural teeth. If you are not keen to brush your teeth daily or avoid darkly pigmented foods, you will stain your treated teeth.
• Exposed tooth roots – if your composites no longer protect your tooth roots, you need to replace them.
• Dental decay – as much as composites help your oral health, they cannot prevent them from cavities. The stakes are higher if you often neglect your oral hygiene. If you have cavities, you will need to replace your dental bonding, typically after getting treatment for the underlying infection.
• Wear and tear – after about five years, you will need to confirm that your composites are still effective for protecting your teeth.

How to Make Dental Bonding Last for Long

It is not desirable to keep replacing your composites after every one or two years. However, it is a probable outcome if you do not learn to care well for your teeth. Some tips to make dental bonding last long are:

• Use the right products to keep your teeth clean – a soft-bristled toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste are necessary for good oral hygiene.
• Avoid hard foods – it helps to cut raw foods into small portions to help with chewing.
• Keep up with routine dental visits for checkups and cleanings.

Quit bad oral habits like biting fingernails, teeth grinding, and smoking.