When you think about it, you put your teeth through a lot.
Biting into crunchy foods, chewing on ice, holding things in your teeth, and using your teeth to open things all take a toll on your smile. Any of these things can cause you to lose a little something in an instant or gradually over time.
Depending on your habits, your teeth may show wear more quickly than some other people. Eventually, you may find that your teeth no longer look acceptable to you.
What can you do about it? If you live in or near Holladay, UT, you can call Holladay Dental Studio and ask about our cosmetic dentistry.
One way we may be able to help is through cosmetic bonding.
Ways Bonding Can Help
Cosmetic bonding or dental bonding is the application of a composite resin to your teeth. This resin is white or tooth-colored so it will blend naturally into your smile.
As we’ll explain, this can be used to help with a variety of problems. Here are some examples:
- Misshapen Teeth
Through no fault of your own, one or more of your teeth may not have formed correctly. They may look small or short compared to your other teeth. This is a correctable concern.
By adding our bonding material, your tooth can look more likes its neighbors, and your smile can look more uniform.
- Chipped, Worn Down Teeth
This is a problem can develop in an instant.
You may be tossing a baseball back and forth with your daughter or your nephew when you take your eye off the ball and get hit in the mouth. You could trip and fall, or you may be the unfortunate victim of an elbow to the jaw during a fight for a rebound in a pickup basketball game.
This problem can develop over time as well. We don’t recommend any of these things, but many people chew on ice, bite down on hard candies, and use their teeth to open things. All of them can wear down your teeth.
As with short or small teeth, we can apply the dental bonding material to repair the damage to your tooth.
- Cracked Teeth
We want to say up front that this may not be sufficient to treat a deep crack. However, if you have a small crack in a tooth, cosmetic bonding can be a simple way to address the problem and reduce your risk of our next issue.
- Filling Cavities
More than 90 percent of Americans will have at least one cavity in their lives. You will want to treat it when you do, but that doesn’t mean you want everyone you meet to know about it.
Our composite bonding serves as a white or tooth-colored filling. Once we remove the decay from your teeth, we can fill in the space with our bonding material. This will seal the tooth to protect against new cavities, and it will conceal where the cavity was.
Many people will never realize that you had a cavity after you get it filled.
- Replacing Old Fillings
Since we mentioned fillings, we do need to mention one of the inevitable facts about them. Your fillings will need to be replaced at some point.
Depending on when and where you got your previous filling, you may have a metallic, amalgam filling. These are made with a mercury and a combination of copper, silver, and tin. Functionally, these fillings are fine (until they wear out), but cosmetically they can be distracting.
Some patients would prefer a more discreet solution. If you are one of them, we can replace your old amalgam filling with a tooth-colored one instead.
From a functional standpoint, you want to be aware of a few potential problems. Any filling can become chipped or develop a crack. It’s also common for older fillings to separate from your tooth. They might fall out with enough time.
All of those problems can leave your tooth vulnerable to bacteria, and that could mean developing a cavity in a place that can’t be cleaned with a toothbrush.
You can avoid this problem by acting quickly to replace your old fillings with our dental bonding material.
How Happy Are You With Your Smile?
If your teeth are showing signs of wear and tear or they have been damaged by decay or injury, please contact Holladay Dental Studio so we can help.
Our dentist office serves patients in Holladay and near Salt Lake City. Call 801-997-1137or use our online form to make your appointment.