Dental Bonding

Of all the cosmetic and restorative procedures, dental bonding is one of the easiest and most affordable. Called bonding because tooth-colored resin is bonded to your teeth, the procedure is used to repair teeth that are discolored, unevenly shaped or chipped. At our office in Renton, WA, we can even use bonding as an alternative to amalgam fillings if only a small filling is required.

 

Bonding is achieved by applying incredibly strong resin to the tooth in need of restoration. The procedure can usually be accomplished in one visit and allows you to keep most of your tooth’s original enamel, which makes bonding preferable to veneers or crowns in many cases. Once the right color resin has been chosen for your smile, your doctor at Fairwood Dental Center will slightly abrade your teeth to roughen the surface. Then a conditioning liquid is applied to help the resin adhere. The putty-like resin is then applied to your tooth and molded and smoothed until it is in the proper shape. It is hardened with an ultraviolet light or laser. After the bonding material has hardened, your doctor will trim and shape it even more and then polish it until it shines like a tooth. Altogether, the procedure usually takes between 30 minutes to an hour for one tooth.

 

If you’re unhappy with your teeth but unwilling to go as far as veneers, bonding can be used to improve your smile quickly and effectively.

Veneers

Dental veneers are thin ceramic shells that cover the tooth structure and create a more brilliant, beautiful smile. Many of our patients at Fairwood Dental Center choose to have veneers placed on their teeth for a variety of reasons. They might cover teeth that are stained or misshapen or opt for veneers because they have gaps in their teeth or have teeth that are slightly misaligned.

 

Veneers are bonded securely over the teeth and match the other natural teeth, so they don’t appear obvious to anyone else. After the veneers have been bonded to your teeth, our team of experienced doctor’s recommends following these post-op instructions:

• Eat soft foods for the first few days.
• Don’t chew extremely hard foods like raw carrots, ice or candy, as the porcelain can start breaking away.
• Brush and floss the teeth with the veneers, just like your other natural teeth.

Visit us Fairwood Dental Center every six months for a routine check-up and professional cleaning.

Veneers can last a long time if patients follow these important instructions. If the gum begins to recede, they should return to our dental office in Renton, WA for replacement veneers. This doesn’t usually happen for many years and is simply part of the aging process. To find out more about veneers, contact us today.

Dentures

Dentures are an option that many of our patients choose at Fairwood Dental Center. Available in both full and partial, dentures serve as a removable replacement for missing teeth.

 

If providing patients with conventional full dentures, Drs. Harinder S Walia, Aishwarya Ramanan or Arti Bhan-Kachroo will remove all the teeth from the patient’s mouth. Afterwards, the gums are given time to heal before dentures are placed. The patient would be without teeth during this healing process, which can take a couple months.

 

Immediate full dentures forgo this healing process with no teeth. Prior to having their teeth removed, the dentist takes measurements of the patient’s mouth, so that dentures are ready after teeth have been removed. This type of full denture requires a follow-up visit to refit the dentures wince the jaw bone will slightly change shape as the mouth heals.

 

Partial dentures are another option for those who do not need all their teeth to be removed. This makes them similar to bridges, but partial dentures are not permanent fixtures.

 

Whichever dentures our patients choose, they take time getting used to, and even though they are not real teeth, they should still be cared for as if they were. They should be brushed before removal and should be placed in room temperature water or cleaning solution overnight.