Tooth Bonding and Contouring in El Paso, TX
Every cosmetic dental treatment is designed to improve your smile’s appearance. However, depending on your specific smile concerns, some treatments can do so while preserving your natural tooth structure better than others. For example, tooth bonding and contouring are minimally invasive procedures that focus on correcting the visible blemishes on your teeth with few or no changes to their structures. As a cosmetic solution, both treatments offer highly effective results, while also helping you optimize your long-term oral health.
To Bond or Contour a Tooth
Bonding a tooth means applying tooth-colored composite resin to a specific area of its surface, such as a crack, chip, severe discoloration, or more. Your dentist applies the resin to match the ideal shape of your tooth, then sculpts and hardens it to create a lifelike finish. Contouring a tooth describes sculpting a small part of its outer surface to smooth out a jagged edge, correct an overlapping one, or improve a tooth that seems irregularly shaped.
What Can Tooth Bonding Solve?
Tooth bonding is often recommended when your tooth exhibits an issue that affects its structural integrity. For example, bonding and sculpting tooth-colored resin onto your tooth can help improve its health and appearance when:
- Your tooth has a worn-down edge
- Your tooth is lightly cracked or chipped
- You have too much space between two teeth
- Your tooth is severely discolored in one area
- Your tooth seems smaller than those next to it
- And more
What Can Tooth Contouring Solve?
Tooth contouring is often recommended when your tooth needs to be slightly modified to make it more uniform with the rest of your smile. For instance, slightly contouring an area of a tooth’s outer enamel can help improve its shape and appearance when:
- Your tooth has a jagged or overlapping edge
- Your tooth has an uneven chewing surface
- Your tooth enamel has a rough patch on it
- Your tooth seems larger than those next to it
- And more
The Benefits of Minimal Treatment
Choosing the right treatment depends on your specific needs, though many patients benefit from complete smile improvement through a combination of both bonding and contouring. Whether one or both treatments are most appropriate for your smile, bonding and contouring offer several important benefits by minimizing your overall treatment.
For example, you preserve a maximum amount of your healthy, natural tooth structure, which makes your teeth less likely to experience further damage or develop decay in the future. Thanks to advanced technology and cosmetic treatment techniques, the results of your treatment will be highly lifelike and esthetically pleasing, as well.
Fix Your Smile with Conservative Treatment
By bonding and/or contouring a tooth, your dentist can improve your entire smile while preserving most or all of your healthy, natural tooth structure. To learn if bonding and/or contouring is your best smile improvement option, or to schedule an appointment, call the Sunny Smiles office nearest you in El Paso, TX, today! We have offices in East and Northeast El Paso, and happily welcome patients from all nearby communities, including Chaparral, Canutillo, Vinton, and Sunland Park, New Mexico.