I have a tooth gap and a chipped tooth (upper front). I want bonding done to close the gap and take care of the chip. My new dentist says bonding will not look natural but I have a niece with the same kind of gap that had bonding done, and it looks great. Should I go to another dentist to get a second opinion? Is there a list of reasonable cosmetic dentists here?
Sheila from Florida
Sheila,
Here’s what’s going on. Dentists are trained in dental school that they need to appear confident to the patient, otherwise it makes the patient nervous. So what you have is a dentist who knows he or she can’t do tooth bonding so that it looks natural. Rather than say, “I don’t know how to do that,” (which is considered a big “no-no”) he or she says, “This procedure won’t work for you,” or, “It won’t hold up,” or something else.
You can see on our site that we have tooth bonding photos posted showing tooth gaps that have been closed, and it can look very nice if it’s done by a real cosmetic dentist.
And I’d be really careful about looking for a bargain when you deal with appearance-related dentistry. It takes a lot of extra training plus artistic ability to do beautiful work that looks lifelike. If it doesn’t matter to you how it looks, then my advice would be to leave your teeth alone–this doesn’t affect your health. But if it does matter, then don’t try to cut corners. Get it done right, and be ready to pay for the extra skills that are involved. We have a page posted on our web site about cosmetic dentistry costs. You may want to read that.
– Dr. Hall
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About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
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