Tooth Bonding and Cosmetic Contouring
When you want to improve your smile’s appearance, the most obvious solution isn’t always the best one. For example, if you have a tooth that’s severely stained, then you may believe teeth-whitening is the best way to improve it. If a tooth is chipped or cracked, a custom dental crown might seem like the only solution. However, with cosmetic bonding and contouring, we can often address these and a wide variety of other concerns in a more minimally invasive manner than you might expect. Whether performed together or separately, bonding and contouring can have a dramatic impact on your smile’s appearance and a minimal impact on the healthy structures of your teeth.
What Does Tooth Bonding Involve?
Bonding a tooth means to customize a small portion of composite tooth resin and apply it to an affected area of your tooth. The resin is custom-tinted to match the tooth’s unique color and shade, creating a highly lifelike restoration that blends in almost seamlessly. After applying the resin, we’ll carefully sculpt it, harden it, and polish it, effectively correcting the tooth’s blemish. Tooth bonding may be recommended to improve:
- Severely discolored teeth
- Chipped or lightly cracked teeth
- Too much space between teeth
- Teeth that look too small
- Teeth that have been worn down by bruxism
- And more
When Is Tooth Contouring the Right Choice?
Cosmetic tooth contouring is almost as minimally invasive as tooth bonding, but its goals are different. Rather than adding to your tooth’s structure, contouring involves lightly sculpting a small amount from an area of its outer enamel. Contouring may be recommended for:
- Smoothing a tooth’s jagged edge
- Correcting a slightly misshapen tooth
- Sculpting down an exceptionally pointy tooth
- Smoothing a rough area of tooth enamel
- And more
Schedule a visit to learn more about tooth bonding
Cosmetic tooth bonding offers a minimally invasive, but highly effective, solution for improving smiles with a variety of different concerns. To find out if you smile can benefit from tooth bonding, schedule a consultation by calling Dimples Family Dentistry in Norwalk, IA, today at (515) 256-1176.