Dental Bonding
A fast, affordable way to tidy up chips, close a small gap or reshape a tooth, usually without touching healthy enamel.
Quick Results
Usually one appointment.
Natural Look
Shade-matched to your own teeth.
Affordable
The least costly cosmetic route.
Minimally Invasive
Little or no drilling required.
It is usually something small that bothers you most.
A chipped edge, a gap that has opened up, a tooth that sits slightly wrong — none of it is serious, and all of it is the sort of thing people notice in photographs of themselves. Bonding builds the shape back up with tooth-coloured composite, sculpted by hand, generally in one appointment.
How bonding works
Composite resin is applied directly to the tooth, shaped by hand into the form we want, then set hard with a curing light.
There is no laboratory stage and very little preparation, which is why it costs less than veneers and can be finished the same day.
What it is good for
- Chipped or cracked edges
- Small gaps between front teeth
- Teeth that are uneven or oddly shaped
- Discolouration that whitening will not shift
- Small cavities, as a tooth-coloured alternative to amalgam
- Teeth worn short over the years
What happens on the day
- Matching the shade — we pick a resin that disappears against your own teeth.
- Preparing the surface — a light etch and a conditioning liquid so the composite grips.
- Building it up — the resin is placed and shaped by hand until it looks right.
- Setting — a curing light hardens it in seconds.
- Finishing — trimmed, contoured and polished until it reads as tooth rather than filling.
Reckon on thirty to sixty minutes a tooth. Most people need no anaesthetic at all.
How long it lasts
Five to ten years is typical, and how you treat it matters more than anything we do:
- Do not bite pens, nails or ice with it
- Keep up your usual routine and come to your check-ups
- Expect a polish or a touch-up somewhere along the way
Bonding or veneers?
Dental Bonding
- Costs considerably less
- Finished in a single visit
- Reversible — nothing is cut away
- Ideal for small corrections
- Will need renewing sooner
Porcelain Veneers
- Harder wearing
- Some enamel has to be removed
- Better for a bigger change
- Lasts considerably longer
If you are torn between the two, we will go through it properly at a consultation and tell you which we would actually recommend.