This article covers how bonding works at Oriel Villas Dental Surgery in Cheltenham, what it costs, how long it lasts, and when we would steer you towards something else. If you are weighing up several treatments at once, our guide to smile makeovers in Cheltenham shows how bonding fits alongside them.
What composite bonding can fix
Composite is a tooth coloured resin, shaded to match your own enamel and built directly onto the tooth. It is at its best with chipped or uneven edges, small gaps, teeth that are a little too short or narrow, and front teeth whose edges have worn thin and gone slightly see through. It can also disguise mild crookedness by building one tooth out to line up with its neighbours.
It is less suited to discolouration across many teeth, which whitening handles better, to teeth carrying large old fillings, and to teeth that are genuinely crowded. More on those limits below.
If the chip is fresh and you are reading this with a sharp edge under your tongue, start with our first aid guide for chipped and broken teeth, then come back to this.
What happens on the day
For most patients bonding is a single appointment, with no impressions and nothing sent away to a laboratory. We clean the teeth and choose the shade with you, checking it under more than one light, because a match that looks perfect under the surgery lamp can look different by a window.
The tooth surface is then conditioned with a mild acidic gel. It roughens the enamel on a microscopic scale so the resin has something to grip. The composite goes on in thin layers, each one shaped and then set hard in seconds with a blue curing light. Layering is what lets us copy the way a real tooth is slightly more opaque near the gum and more translucent at the tip. Once the shape is right we check how your teeth meet when you bite, then polish the surface until it reflects light the way enamel does.
Because nothing is cut away, most bonding needs no injection at all. A single small repair can be done in well under an hour; reshaping several teeth takes longer, and we will tell you how long to book when we plan it.
How much does composite bonding cost in Cheltenham?
Composite bonding at Oriel Villas starts from £250, as listed on our fees page. The figure you are quoted depends on how many teeth are involved and how much resin each one needs. Closing one small gap is a modest job. Rebuilding the worn edges of six front teeth is a much longer one.
Two related costs are worth knowing about before you start. If your teeth would benefit from being lighter, whitening (£350) should come first, because composite is matched to your shade on the day and will not lighten afterwards. And because resin picks up surface stain over the years, a hygiene visit with polishing keeps it looking fresh; our hygiene appointments start at £82.
New patients start with our £80 new patient examination, which includes X-rays, a treatment plan and a written quotation, so you know the full figure before committing to anything. For larger plans we can arrange finance; we act as a credit broker, not a lender.
How long does bonding last?
Typically five to seven years, and sometimes longer with good habits. Bonding rarely fails dramatically. More often an edge chips slightly or the surface loses its shine, and because fresh composite bonds well to old composite, small repairs can usually be made in one visit without starting from scratch. That repairability is one of its quieter advantages over porcelain.
What shortens its life is fairly predictable. Biting nails or pen lids, tearing open packets with your teeth and grinding at night all put strain on the edges. Smoking, red wine, strong tea and coffee will slowly tint the surface. If you grind, we may suggest a night guard to protect the new edges while you sleep.
When bonding is not the right answer
We will suggest something else when the problem is bigger than resin can handle. Teeth that are heavily worn from grinding, very dark, or more filling than tooth usually do better with porcelain veneers or crowns, which are stronger and do not stain. Teeth that are properly crowded are better straightened first with Invisalign; bonding can hide mild crookedness, but on crowded teeth it ends up looking bulky. And if there is decay or gum disease, that gets treated before anything cosmetic.
If your choice has narrowed to bonding or veneers, our earlier article on composite bonding versus veneers goes through that decision in detail.
Frequently asked questions
Does bonding damage your teeth?
Can bonded teeth be whitened?
Can I eat and drink straight away?
Will people be able to tell?
Written by Dr Jakub Wojcicki,
Dentist at Oriel Villas Dental Surgery
(GDC No. 84982)