The Cosmetic Dentistry Blog

Dr. Hall,
I read extensively on this site about tooth bonding and I’ve been told by my general dentist that the bonding won’t hold and she had recommended a porcelain crown.

My question is this: Can my chipped front teeth be corrected with “tooth-bonding” and will they hold for an extensive time with my cautious care?

Thanks,
Val from New Jersey

Dear Val,
Many dentists are uncomfortable with direct bonding and will try to discourage you from doing that. But it generally holds up very well, and would be my choice for a chipped front tooth, in most cases.

There could be any of several reasons that your dentist wants you to do a crown. She may not be very good at direct bonding (it requires some artistic talent to do it well), she may not carry all the shades, textures, and varieties of direct bonding materials (most general dentists only keep an inventory of “general purpose” bonding composites, and don’t stock the highly specialized materials required to do beautiful and long-lasting work in the front of the mouth), or she may want to do the higher fee procedure, or it could be that you have an unusual bite that would break off the bonding and maybe the porcelain crown really is the best procedure.

I’d recommend a second opinion from an expert cosmetic dentist – one of the New Jersey cosmetic dentists we recommend.
Dr. Hall