If you’ve gotten dental bonding before, you know its great effect on pearly whites. Namely, the treatment uses a composite resin to hide your smile’s flaws. However, you might wonder whether you can whiten teeth that are already bonded. After all, can a whitening agent really affect previously-applied resin? Fortunately enough, however, your Mineola dentist can answer these concerns. To that end, here’s a summary of how a dentist can whiten your bonded teeth.
Whitening & Bonding Don’t Always Match
As you might already know, teeth whitening is a service that whitens tooth enamel. It does so by using a special gel to bleach tooth surfaces and thus remove stains. The result is often a smile six to eight shades whiter!
Unfortunately, this whitening process is tricky for bonded teeth. The resin for dental bonding won’t bleach, meaning a whitener won’t affect it much. As such, regular whitening would lead to a smile that looks whiter on some teeth and darker on bonded ones.
So, *Can* You Whiten Bonded Teeth?
Despite the trickiness, it’s possible to whiten teeth that received dental bonding. Doing so just requires a non-standard approach. In particular, your dentist may offer two options:
- Porcelain Veneers – Veneers are thin, porcelain shells applied to the fronts of teeth. Besides hiding smile flaws, though, they can also cover up stained resin.
- Replace Bonding Material – To get a perfectly whitened smile, you can replace the bonding material at the same time as your whitening treatment. That way, the composite resin will match the shade of your newly-whitened teeth. (This option is especially good if your bond is more than 10 years old or has deteriorated.)
Your dentist can suggest which choice suits you at your consultation.
Is This Option Right for Me?
Given the facts above, you might wonder if whitening bonded areas is worth it. Some patients may believe the option won’t work out and just leave their teeth stained. Even so, the truth is that the process has benefits that outweigh the hassles.
For one, a beautiful smile can improve a person’s confidence and how they approach life. The resulting boost in self-image could make you more positive, outgoing, and relaxed.
Secondly, a beautiful, white smile looks healthier. It creates the image of a person taking care of themselves and places importance on being “put together.” This impression, in turn, then makes you seem attractive and healthy to others.
For these reasons, whitening teeth can be highly beneficial, even if it means replacing bonding material. So, go ahead and book your treatment!
About the Practice
Meadowbrook Dental Care is based in Mineola, NY. As led by several experienced dentists, our practice provides stress-free, quality dentistry with outstanding results. In particular, we perform preventive, cosmetic, and restorative treatments, as well as emergency care procedures. Among such offerings, we also include excellent teeth whitening and dental bonding! For more information or to book a visit, you can reach us on our website or by phone at (516)-284-1234.